Coronavirus Updates: Parisians Flee As France Begins Second National Lockdown

This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Friday, October 30th, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.

New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, which includes zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms. Certain parts of Brooklyn and Queens are under a zoned shutdown. Get answers to questions you may have with our "Ask An Epidemiologist" series, or learn more about NYC COVID-19 testing options with our explainer. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.

Here's the latest:

• 67 ZIP Codes In NYC Now Have An Average Positivity Rate Over 2%
• Long Island Wedding & Birthday Party "Superspreader" Events Infect Over 50 People

France on Friday began its second national lockdown in an attempt to battle a second wave that has resulted in more than 2,500 new daily hospitalizations over the last several days, the highest total since mid-April.

People must now stay at home except for essential work or medical reasons. Restaurants and businesses are closed. Schools, however, are permitted to stay open.

In an astonishing scene, car traffic around Paris stretched for hundreds of miles on Thursday night as residents tried to leave before the lockdown order went into effect. Back in March, amid the first coronavirus lockdown, more than 1 million people left the Paris region, nearly a fifth of its population.

According to a tally by the New York Times, France is reporting an average of roughly 40,000 new cases this week.

During an address to the nation, President Emanuel Macron said the country risked being "overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first."

"The virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated," he added.

Germany, meanwhile, announced a partial lockdown. Starting on Monday, restaurants, cafes, bars, theaters and gyms will close. Schools and most other businesses, however, will remain open.

Here in the the U.S., states continue to break records for new daily cases as more hospitals are under strain. On Thursday, the country recorded a total of more than 88,000 new infections, an all-time high, according to the COVID Tracking Project.