Covid-19 has taken a heavy toll on the US, which has recorded the most infections and deaths in the world.

International comparisons are difficult to do, due to differences in how widely countries test for Covid-19, and whether they count deaths from the virus in the same way.

Looking at the average number of new infections reported over a seven-day period on each continent is one way to compare, though.

Currently, Europe is seeing the steepest rise in new cases. Data collated by the World Health Organization (WHO), external showed there were 167,857 new cases in the Americas on 1 November, compared to 218,623 in Europe on the same day.

This spike in Europe is primarily being driven by outbreaks in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Russia. The UK, for example, is heading into a second national lockdown on Thursday after election day in the US.

But while many European countries are seeing a pronounced second wave in infections, the US never really came out of the first one, public health experts say. Since the start of the pandemic, new infections have been in the tens of thousands every day, WHO data shows, external.

If you're just joining us, welcome - here's a round-up of what's been happening in the race for the White House:

• With election day on 3 November, today marks the last day of campaigning for both parties. At the moment, polls in the battleground states look good for Joe Biden, though the margins are tight in several of them
• More than 90 million people have already voted, leaving the country on course for its highest turnout in over 100 years
• President Trump has threatened to fire Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, during a midnight rally in Florida
• The two candidates and their running-mates are focusing their final efforts on the key state of Pennsylvania, although Trump will also visit North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan
• The FBI has said it is investigating an incident on Friday in which a Biden campaign bus was surrounded by Trump supporters on a motorway in Texas
• Our focus today is on the impact of coronavirus on the campaign in the US, where more than 230,000 people have died in the pandemic

The Democrats are planning a star-studded end to their campaign in Pennsylvania tonight, with Lady Gaga appearing with former Vice-President Joe Biden, and John Legend joining Kamala Harris at a separate event.

They're far from the only singers to back the blue ticket: Alicia Keys travelled with Harris to the key state of Arizona at the weekend - and Taylor Swift, Madonna, and Cardi B are all supporting Biden-Harris.

Of course, Donald Trump is not without his fans. Last month, rapper 50 Cent called on voters to re-elect the president after disagreeing with Biden's tax plans. Musician Kid Rock is also backing Trump.

Does celebrity support make a difference in the end? Find out more here.

Image source, Getty Images

The US and the UK have long been important allies, but the results of tomorrow's election could be more important than ever.

From a post-Brexit trade deal to the price of medicines, find out what impact the result will have across the pond.

As with many issues in this election, the two candidates have very different policies to the coronavirus - which their campaigning styles show.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who supports a nationwide mask mandate, has attended socially-distanced rallies in recent months - some with his supporters in cars, others allowing only a small number of attendees, all wearing masks.

Image source, EPA

Both he and his running-mate Kamala Harris have also held online events.

By contrast, President Trump has remained defiant.

His campaign has often acted against the advice issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, external, which says people should wear masks and remain socially-distanced to help curb the spread of the virus.

While more masks have been worn by attendees at his rallies in recent weeks, the president has continued to travel across the country to meet large crowds.

Image source, Reuters

He has also repeated unfounded claims against postal ballots, which have been used by many voters to avoid travel amid the pandemic.

BBC Newsbeat

The area around St. James in Louisiana, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, has the undesirable nickname “cancer alley”.

There are around 150 chemical plants located along this stretch of the Mississippi River. Data from the US Environmental Protection Agency suggests that those living in this area of Louisiana have the highest risk of getting cancer than anywhere in America.

Now residents of the small, predominantly black, community known as the fifth district are campaigning to stop another large plant being built near their homes.

The plants provide a large number of jobs in the state and the petrochemical companies disagree with the government report saying it’s based on faulty science.

But many locals feel let down by politicians.

“I want them to stop saying yes to industry,” says Sharon Lavigne. “If they can help us with that, they got my vote.”

Nick Bryant
BBC New York Correspondent

Image source, EPA

Four years ago, the political genius of Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan was that it became a sentimental catch-all. Rather than sketching out a timeline himself, he let voters decide for themselves when America had last been great.

In the final weeks of this campaign, however, Donald Trump has been more specific. He has pin-pointed a date. He has told us where to travel back in time. America was great "before the plague", he keeps on telling his campaign rallies.

Before the coronavirus, the political vital signs for Donald Trump were strong. He had survived his impeachment trial. His presidential approval rating was the highest it had ever been. He could boast a strong economy and benefit from the advantages of incumbency, a combination that usually yields a first-term president four more years.

Then, of course, everything changed. Covid granted Joe Biden a cloak of invisibility, a useful concealment for a candidate often so fumbling and frail. Donald Trump wrapped himself in the mantle of a wartime president, but in a battle that America quickly started to lose.

Read more of Nick’s analysis

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris has a reputation for directness - but she tempered it with a dash of humour in a Q&A posted to her social media on Monday.

In the video, Harris answers questions about policy and her personal life.

One came from Kelsey, who asked her: “Many women, young and old, look up to you. What advice do you have for all us?”

In response, Harris said: “You never have to ask anyone permission to lead.

“I have in my career been told many times, ‘it’s not your time, it’s not your turn.’ And let me just tell you, I eat no for breakfast, so I would recommend the same.

“It’s a hearty breakfast.”

Should she be elected, Harris would make history as the first female, first black and first Asian-American vice-president in the US.

Image source, Getty Images

As an unpredictable election night unfolds and the results roll in, there's more to keep an eye on than usual this year.

For one thing, early tallies may be deceptive. This is due in part to differences in how states report their results.

In some states, ballots cast in person on election day will be tallied first. These are expected to favour Donald Trump, as early polls show his supporters plan to cast ballots on 3 November.

But in others, postal votes cast prior to 3 November will be reported first or included in early counts along with day-of votes. Initial results from these states may favour Joe Biden, as Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail this year.

For more on how to know who's winning, and how media outlets decide when a candidate has a clear lead, read our guide here.

Today we're looking at how Covid-19 has affected ordinary Americans, and this extraordinary election.

As this map shows, case numbers are high in several US states - among them pivotal swing states like Iowa and Minnesota.

More than 230,000 Americans have died of coronavirus and 9.2 million have been infected since the pandemic began - the highest numbers of any country.

President Trump's opposition to his medical advisors has been clear throughout the pandemic, but he's now told supporters he would consider dismissing the country's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci.

Speaking at a rally in Opa-Locka, Florida on Sunday, the president once again complained about media coverage of the pandemic.

The crowd responded with a "Fire Fauci!" chant, to which Trump replied: "Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait till a little bit after the election..."

The Washington Post published an interview with Fauci over the weekend, in which he said that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was taking the pandemic "seriously from a public health perspective", while Trump was "looking at it from a different perspective… the economy and reopening the country".

The White House accused the top epidemiologist of playing politics.

More than 230,000 people have died of coronavirus in the US since the pandemic began - the highest number of any country in the world.

Here's more on how that could influence the result of this election.

Image source, EPA

As he seeks to woo voters on the last day of campaigning, Joe Biden has a telling late addition in his schedule - Cleveland, in the key swing state of Ohio.

The former vice-president will address voters about "the crises facing the country and winning the battle for the soul of the nation" at an event on Monday.

The last-minute stop in Ohio signals Biden’s designs on a state that moved sharply to the right in 2016, with Trump winning by more than eight points.

This year, the race to win Ohio could not be tighter. As it stands, Trump has a 0.2% lead over Biden in the state, according to an aggregate of polls by RealClearPolitics, external.

Ohio is seen as a crucial state for Trump. It awards 18 electoral college delegates of the 270 needed to win the White House - and no Republican candidate for the presidency has ever won election without winning Ohio.

Michelle Fleury
North America Business Correspondent

In late March, Salvatore Forte's father woke up shivering uncontrollably.

"I've never seen him like that," Mr Forte says. He called an ambulance to take his 80-year-old father to the hospital.

It was the last time Mr Forte would see his dad alive. He died alone of Covid-19 in New York hospital. Two days later, his mother was also dead from the virus.

For Mr Forte, the loss was unimaginable.

A business owner, he is just one of many struggling through the pandemic in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a racially and economically diverse neighbourhood a few miles from Manhattan with a population of around 80,000.

A closer look at the area reveals a snapshot of the terrible damage wrought by Covid-19.

Countless loved ones have been lost. Businesses teeter on the brink of ruin. Lives have been upended.

Read the full story here.

There's just one day to go until election day, and polling suggests Democratic candidate Joe Biden has a nine-point lead on President Donald Trump.

He also appears to be ahead in most of the battleground states, where elections are won and lost - although the difference between the two candidates is marginal.

But as Nate Silver, an American statistician and writer, points out, external, the result is far from certain.

"A 10 percent chance isn’t zero," he writes. "And there’s a chance of a recount, too."

We asked Trump and Biden voters from across the US - what's the worst that could happen if your candidate lost?

Things got a little dark...

Image source, Reuters

President Trump has denied a report that he is planning to declare victory in Tuesday’s presidential election before the final results are officially confirmed.

Trump told confidants he will announce victory “if it looks like he's ahead” in key swing states, US news website Axios reported, external, citing three anonymous sources.

The president dismissed the claim on Sunday, but complained about the possibility of waiting for results “for a long period of time after the election”.

"I think it's terrible that we can't know the results of an election the night of the election,” Trump told reporters.

It is not unusual for results to be declared in the days following a presidential election in some states, especially those where counting starts on polling day.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, millions more Americans are voting by mail than in previous elections. Counting postal votes can take longer, so there will almost certainly be delays.

Because of the surge in postal votes, a candidate who takes an early lead may end up being overtaken as more mail-in ballots are tallied.

Throughout the campaign, Trump has raised concerns about voter fraud and the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, without citing any evidence.

If the result is close in some states, legal fights over the counting of ballots are a real possibility.

Aleem Maqbool
BBC North America correspondent

As polling day approaches, another tragedy followed by nights of unrest reminds us of one of the central issues of the US election, one which many say is driving their vote.

But what exactly that issue is depends which side of the great American divide the voter finds themselves on.

For some, the fatal shooting by police of Walter Wallace in Philadelphia is yet more evidence that sweeping change is needed to tackle the twin scourges of police brutality and systemic racism.

Image source, Reuters

Wallace was a 27-year-old black man who was carrying a knife and had, it appears, been suffering a mental health crisis. His family say they had called the emergency services themselves, but for medical help.

"Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr, and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another black life in America lost," began a statement from Joe Biden.

For some Americans though, it is the civil unrest in the aftermath of the killing that is their focus. President Trump speaks to those voters with his strong law and order messaging, talking of the rioting and looting.

"You can't let that go on. Again, a Democrat-run state, a Democrat-run city, Philadelphia."

Trump is once again facing accusations, in what is a key battleground state, that he is stoking unfounded fears of chaos and lawlessness under a prospective Biden administration.

But there are those who feel strongly that the president is right and just in the past few months we have met them in cities around the country.

Read more here.

The FBI has confirmed it is investigating alleged harassment by Trump supporters who targeted a Biden campaign bus last week.

Footage of the incident showed dozens of vehicles surrounding and slowing down the bus on a highway in Texas on Friday. Neither Joe Biden nor his running-mate Kamala Harris were on the bus, but the campaign said Trump supporters had attempted to force the vehicle off the road.

President Donald Trump, who promoted a video of the incident, defended his supporters in a tweet: "In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong."

Image source, Reuters

“Folks, that’s not who we are,” his Democratic rival Joe Biden responded on Sunday. “We are so much better than this."

Friday's incident wasn't the only controversial encounter in recent days.

In Richmond, Virginia, protesters burned flags taken from a pro-Trump convoy, according to a local journalist, external, while one demonstrator said a shot was fired by one of the drivers.

And a rally to promote voting in North Carolina ended with attendants getting pepper-sprayed and arrested.

There are fears pockets of post-election violence could break out as the vote approaches, whether the election is won by Trump or his Democratic challenger.

Businesses in downtown Washington DC have been seen boarding up their premises amid concerns about looting.

Donald Trump is a man who prefers plain speaking to the language of diplomacy.

During his four years in office, the US president has upended relationships with previously solid US allies, forged surprising new friendships and tweeted about it all - a lot.

We've taken a look at the countries he's mentioned most on Twitter to pick out his most notable statements and give an overview of where US relations stand as we approach the election.

Find out what he said here.

Glenn Perkins and Matt Thomas share several similarities with President Trump. Both Republicans in their 70s, they were admitted to hospital with Covid-19, just like 74-year-old Trump was in October.

Unlike Trump, though, Glenn and Matt took much longer to recover from the virus.

They told the BBC how they spent weeks in hospital, and gave their verdicts on the president's illness and America's pandemic response.