July 20 coronavirus news

While the surge in coronavirus cases in the United States has amplified the need for timely testing, diagnostic companies continue to grapple with turnaround times of multiple days or more for coronavirus test results. 

Some labs have attributed the longer waits to extreme demand and strain on testing supply chains. There are now more than 3.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, with tens of thousands of new infections every day.

Quest Diagnostics said in a statement Monday that average turnaround time has increased to seven days or more for the general population, and that a “small subset of patients” may experience wait times of up to two weeks.

Prioritized patients, such as symptomatic healthcare workers and those who are hospitalized, get results in two days on average, the company said. Quest says that’s longer than the one-day average wait time priority patients had a week ago. 

On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Quest to use its Covid-19 test with pooled specimens, where samples from multiple patients are tested together, which the company said should help increase capacity.

But Quest also said the biggest factors they face now are the limits of the complex machines that perform the tests, as well as limited supply of reagents, the chemicals used to perform the tests.  

US Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said on CNN’s “New Day” Monday the average turnaround time for tests in most states is longer than three days, though in 18 states the average is two to three days.  

“That is not optimum. We want to reduce that. It will be reduced,” said Giroir, who added that supply of reagents is “tight.”

After five days of fraught discussions, the leaders of the European Union have agreed on a landmark 750 million euro ($858 billion) deal to fund the bloc’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Announcing the agreement on social media, European Council President Charles Michel simply said, “Deal!”

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed it as a “historic day for Europe.”

The package, which will be used to assist countries hit hardest by the virus, comes alongside an agreement on the EU’s overall budget – an unprecedented 1.82 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion).

In response to the Brussels summit, Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes said that the European Union had “never before decided to invest so ambitiously in the future.”

In a series of tweets published on Monday night, the Republican governor of Maryland questioned the Trump administration’s commitment to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Larry Hogan said on his official Twitter that the US was at a “critical juncture” in the epidemic.

“The President, vice president, and Secretary Mnuchin have all previously committed to support this funding, but there are growing indications that it is no longer a priority. It is crunch time now, and we are ready to work with leaders in both parties to get this done.”

Hogan called for the Trump administration to extend the public health emergency, which expires on Saturday.

“Lastly, and most importantly, we continue to stress the need for Congress to pass a coronavirus relief package that provides the funding desperately needed by state and local governments. Millions of state and local government jobs depend on this aid,” Hogan said.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg announced on Twitter on Monday that she would donate 100,000 euros ($114,000) to combat the spread of Covid-19 in the Brazilian Amazon.

The announcement came after the teenager was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, which has a prize amount of 1 million euros ($1.14 million.)  

The donation – which will come from the prize money – will be made through the activist’s Thunberg Foundation to SOS Amazonia, which is led by Fridays for Future Brazil, an organization that is helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic in indigenous territories. 

Another 100,000 euros will be given to the Stop Ecocide Foundation to “support their work to make ecocide an international crime,” she said in the announcement. 

In a video posted on her Twitter account, the Swedish activist said she would donate the full prize money but has not yet provided information on the other recipients.

“The Prize money, which is one million euros, that is more money than I can even begin to imagine, but all the prize money will be donated through my Foundation to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front lines, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis, especially in the Global South,” Thunberg said.
“Also to help organizations and projects who are fighting for a sustainable world and who are fighting to defend nature and the natural world.”

Colombia reported 6,727 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the country’s total to 204,005, its health ministry said. 

The ministry also reported 193 new deaths from the virus, raising the nationwide tally to 6,929.

Despite the growing number of coronavirus cases, Colombian President Ivan Duque has so far resisted calls to reimpose strict lockdown measures that were first lifted at the beginning of June. 

Colombia’s capital Bogota and other main cities are instead following a localized approach by closing only the most affected neighborhoods. 

The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced Monday the postponement of all scheduled fall sports along with SWAC championships due to continuing concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a news release.

The fall sports impacted are men’s and women’s cross country, football, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.

The conference has started the process of formalizing plans to conduct a schedule for the fall sports during the 2021 spring semester.

For football, the plan includes a seven-game conference schedule beginning with an eight-week training period in January 2021. Each member institution will play a total of six conference games (four divisional/two non-divisional) with the option to play one non-conference game. 

Additional details on scheduling women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country along with the SWAC football championship game will be released at a later date. 

Multiple NCAA conferences have announced postponements of many or all fall sports or have moved to conference-only competition.

Key Republicans are pushing back on the White House proposal to zero out funding for Covid-19 testing and tracing in the next stimulus bill.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Shelley Moore Capito, Mitt Romney and Lamar Alexander told reporters today they disagree with the White House posture to deny additional money for testing and tracing in the next stimulus package.

Here’s what they said:

If a coronavirus vaccine were available today, half of all Americans wouldn’t get it because of a lack of trust, former US Surgeon Gen. Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday.

One of the most important assets government should have in a pandemic response is public trust, and it must be cultivated at all costs, Murthy said.

“Otherwise, when you need the public to follow guidance, they won’t trust you enough to listen and that’s actually the situation we may find ourselves in when it comes to vaccines, because already surveys are showing us nearly half of people are not inclined to take a Covid-19 vaccine, even if it was available today,” he said.

“That’s a shocking number and deeply concerning.”

President Trump has spent the past few months telling his supporters not to wear masks and questioning scientists and public health officials’ guidance on reopening the country.

“We know that distributing vaccines is going to be hard enough and if people aren’t willing to take it because we haven’t built enough public trust, that’s going to seriously impair our ability to build herd immunity,” Murthy said.

The former US surgeon general said leaders have to tell the truth, especially when mistakes are made, they need to lead with science and scientists, and communicate frequently and consistently.

Murthy said resumption of the White House coronavirus task force briefings might help improve trust. “That could really help the cause, because the truth is that how you communicate determines whether you build or destroy public trust,” Murthy said.

Trump ended the daily White House coronavirus briefings several months ago, but announced Monday he’s resuming them.

At least 80,120 people have died from coronavirus in Brazil since the pandemic started, according to new figures from the country’s health ministry on Monday.

Since yesterday, 632 people are reported to have died. The total number of infections in Brazil is now 2,118,646 – an increase of 20,257 since Sunday. 

Along with President Jair Bolsonaro, two members of his cabinet announced they tested positive for the virus on Monday. The Brazilian Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, announced he tested positive for Covid-19 and just hours earlier, Brazil’s Minister of Citizenship Onyx Lorenzoni tweeted that he had tested positive.

Some state health secretaries in Brazil have reported issues in sending local data to the national health ministry in recent days.

On Friday, Mato Grosso’s state health secretary said a systems migration of data did not affect its disclosure of the number of confirmed cases and deaths reported. On Saturday, Rio de Janeiro state did not register numbers for the national tally. Rio de Janeiro’s state health secretary said the issue has been fixed. 

The state health secretaries of Goias and Rondonia said difficulties in registering their data may have been caused by problems in the health ministry system.

The National Football League and the players union have agreed on a daily Covid-19 testing protocol that will commence at the start of training camps and last for two weeks.

Results from those weeks of testing will dictate a move to test every other day.

On Monday, the NFL’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, outlined the guidelines on a conference call with select media including NFL.com and ESPN. Sills is quoted by ESPN as saying, “This is ongoing work. There’s no finish line with health and safety, and I think these protocol are living, breathing documents, which means they will change as we get new information. They will undoubtedly be changing over time, which is what we usually see in medicine.”

A league source confirmed to CNN that every player will need to test negative for Covid-19 multiple times before entering team facilities for the first time.

Teams will be reporting to training camp on July 28. 

Sills outlined some of the testing specifics on the media call. If after two weeks of daily testing the results for all team members are below 5%, testing will shift to every other day.

NFL.com reported that players will “wear proximity recording devices during all team activities.” The league will use the data gathered from the devices to help with Covid-19 contact tracing.

The National Football League Players Association confirmed the agreement in a statement on Monday.

“Our union has been pushing for the strongest testing and tracing protocols to keep our players safe. The testing protocols we agreed to are one critical factor that will help us return to work safely and gives us the best chance to play and finish the season,” the players union said.

Georgia reported 2,452 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 145,575 statewide, according to data release by the state’s Department of Public Health. 

The Department of Public Health also recorded three additional deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 3,176.

The state reported 37 additional hospitalizations and a total of 2,829 intensive care admissions. 

Note: These numbers were released by the Georgia Department of Public Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

There are at least 3,814,463 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 140,855 people have died from the virus in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally. 

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has recorded 41,203 new cases and 321 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

The circulation of coronavirus in France is “increasing,” according to the Ministry of Health, with at least 400 active “clusters” of the virus reported across the country.

“This is reflected in an increase in the number of calls to SOS doctors, visits to the emergency room, the number of clusters and hospitalizations,” the French health ministry said Monday in a statement. 

“This moderate increase is due to the fact that a very insufficient proportion of patients with symptoms carry out a virological test and isolate themselves,” the statement added. 

Speaking during a televised interview on Monday, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that there are concerns of a possible resurgence in the national health crisis, but affirmed that the country is “very far” from a second wave. 

“There are worrying signs of an epidemic resumption on national territory,” Veran said, adding that there have been “between 400 and 500 clusters” of coronavirus cases reported across the country, including the district of Mayenne, which he visited on Monday.

“We are on an increasing slope in the circulation of the virus, even if we start from low contamination rates,” Veran said. 

“We are very far from the [second] wave,” he added. 

According to Veran, the national reproduction rate of the virus is now “more than one,” meaning infection rates are likely to increase again following months of decline as a result of social distancing and confinement measures. 

As of Monday, a total of 176,754 coronavirus cases have been confirmed across France, with 30,177 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak.

At least 6,589 patients remain hospitalized with coronavirus, including 467 patients in intensive care. 

The NBA and the players union have jointly announced that there have been zero positive Covid-19 test results from the 346 players tested since July 13. 

Back on July 13, the two sides announced that two players of the 322 tested had positive Covid-19 results within the Disney World Resort bubble.

Read the joint statement:  

“Of the 346 players tested for COVID-19 on the NBA campus since test results were last announced on July 13, zero have returned confirmed positive tests.  
In the event that a player on the NBA campus returns a confirmed positive test in the future, he will be isolated until he is cleared for leaving isolation under the rules established by the NBA and the Players Association.”

There are at least 884 new Covid-19 cases in Houston, Texas, and at least seven people have died from the virus in the city, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Houston stands at 36,985, and a total of 329 people have died from coronavirus, he said at a news conference.

The positivity rate in the city is at about 25.5%, according to the Houston Health Department.

The virus, Turner said, has “taken a toll on the city of Houston workforce.

At least 5% of employees from the Public Works Department are out due to testing positive, waiting for their test result or quarantining due to exposure to Covid-19, the head of the department said at the news conference.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said that 162 firefighters are in quarantine and 38 firefighters are currently positive. In total, 189 firefighters have tested positive and 151 are back at work. 

Peña went on to say that all fire stations are open and the fire department is doing all it can do to ensure they are there for the community. 

Note: These numbers were released by the Houston Heath Department, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates — whose foundation has pledged millions in Covid-19 relief efforts — will answer some viewers’ questions during CNN coronavirus town hall this Thursday.

Leave your questions for Gates below, and tune in to the one-hour special on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

With the Republican National Convention just over one month away, Jacksonville, Florida, Sheriff Mike Williams issued a statement Monday questioning whether the event can still be held safely in his city.

“I am compelled to express my significant concerns with the viability of this event,” Williams said in the statement. “It is my sole responsibility to provide safety and security for our city and more importantly, for the citizens who I serve. With a growing list of challenges — be it finances, communication and timeline, I cannot say with confidence that this event and our community will not be at risk.”

Williams, a Republican, cited the short time-frame to organize the event, communications issues and concerns over reimbursement, as well as the surge in coronavirus cases as his reasons for trepidation.

“With a timetable that was aggressive to say the least, the communication required to make the critical steps come together just never seemed to gel. And still has not,” Williams said. “My team identified the key resources critical to this plan and, to date, I can only confirm that twenty-five percent (25%) of the ask has been answered. Some of this is due to concerns for reimbursement, while additional issues are related to the pandemic we are still facing.”

“At this point, we are simply past the point of no return to execute the event with safety and security that is our obligation,” the sheriff added.

CNN is reaching out to both the RNC and the Trump campaign for comment.

Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals have announced that the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is set to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day on Thursday.

Coronavirus won’t just kill people directly, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Monday.

He noted that people may die from preventable cancers because the pandemic has interrupted routine health care.

“Covid-19-related reductions in cancer screening because of the total country lockdown that we and other nations have experienced … over the next decade could actually result in 10,000 or more excess deaths from breast and colorectal cancer because of the reductions in routine screening,” Fauci told an American Association for Cancer Research conference.

Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cited the number from a June editorial written by US National Cancer Institute Director Norman Sharpless, published in the journal Science. The editorial also noted that Covid-19 has caused an “unprecedented disruption” in cancer research.

Two studies presented at the conference found that routine breast and prostate cancer screening rates have gone down due to Covid-19-related disruptions of care. Another study associated unemployment — rates of which skyrocketed between February and May — with drops in breast and colorectal screening compared to employed people, as the authors noted that unemployed adults often lack health insurance.

Cancer patients of any age are at increased risk for severe illness from Covid-19, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Los Angeles County has surpassed its record for daily hospitalizations for the fourth time in the past week, according to Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

There are 2,232 patients currently hospitalized with 26% of them in the intensive care units and 19% on ventilators, Ferrer said.

The county reported nine deaths Monday, but Ferrer said that low reporting is often seen over the weekend. So far, L.A. County has recorded 4,104 Covid-29 deaths and 92% of those had underlying conditions.

Ferrer announced 3,160 new cases on Monday.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Sunday announced the largest single-day total of new Covid-19 cases in the state, with 979 newly reported cases.

According to the governor’s office, 30 cases were from children 5 years old and younger.

“I’m here to tell you now, that Sunday was a rude wake up call. Sunday is a warning, it’s a shot across the bow. If we don’t intervene, then we’re going to see the fate here in Kentucky that they’re seeing in some of these other states,” Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Department for Public Health, said Monday.

On Monday, the state announced 258 new cases of Covid-19.

“I expect that number will grow some tomorrow while it’s still catching up and unfortunately I expect the number to be much higher by Wednesday or Thursday,” the governor said. 

Beshear said the state also issued a travel advisory. The state is asking anyone who goes to a state with over a 15% positivity rate to quarantine for 14 days when they return.

“This is a request,” Beshear said. “Let’s make sure that we’re not bringing this back into our communities.”

Hair salons and barbershops in 33 counties under the California’s monitoring list may now reopen outside under new guidance from the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a news conference on Monday.

According to the guidance updated on Monday, “outdoor operations may be conducted under a tent, canopy, or other sun shelter as long as no more than one side is closed, allowing sufficient outdoor air movement.”

 “Salons and barbershops should not perform a service that would require a customer to have to enter the establishment,” it adds.

In addition, businesses will need to have an effective heat illness prevention plan that includes access to water and shade, cool down breaks, emergency procedures for heat illness cases, and training on heat illness prevention and symptoms.

The use of face coverings, physical distancing, and proper cleaning and sanitization is also required.

Last week, Newsom asked counties on his watch list to close all indoor activities which included hair salons and barbershops.

Latest numbers: Earlier today, California reported 6,846 new cases of coronavirus and nine additional deaths, according to updated data from the California Department of Public Health.

Hospitalizations and intensive care admissions have slightly increased in the state, with 22 more patients hospitalized and 22 more patients in the ICU. There are a total of 6,921 Covid-19 positive hospital patients and 1,943 ICU patients.

As of Monday, California has a total of 391,538 confirmed cases and 7,694 deaths.

President Trump tweeted a photo Monday of himself wearing mask and said “many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance.” 

“There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!” the President added. 

The photo was taken during his trip to Walter Reed on July 11, which was the one and only time the President has worn a mask in front of television cameras. 

CNN has previously reported that Trump’s agreement to don a mask in public was the result of heavy “pleading” by aides, who urged the President to set an example for his supporters by wearing a mask on the visit.

US stocks ended higher on Monday and the Nasdaq Composite once again finished at a record high.

The University of Oxford and drug maker AstraZeneca reported positive findings for their Covid-19 vaccine, which helped investor sentiment. That said, earnings season is in full swing, and the market could be volatile in the next days. 

Here’s how the market closed:

At the beginning of Vice President Mike Pence’s call with the nation’s governors, he offered a full-throated endorsement of mask-wearing in public and social distancing as ways to reduce the spread of coronavirus — steps President Trump has stopped short of mandating on a national level.

Citing falling case counts in Arizona, Pence listed steps starting with masks that have helped improve the situation.

“What we have found is that masks, closing indoor bars, decreasing indoor dining capacity to 25%, continued social distancing and personal hygiene messaging are, according to the modeling, dramatically decreasing the rate of community spread,” he said.

Those actions are “a clear example of transmitting science into action and proving this works,” Pence said.

At the top of the call, Pence told governors they had the White House’s “unqualified” support in taking steps to limit the spread of coronavirus.

“You have our full and unqualified support for the steps you are taking in your state,” he said.

“At President Trump’s direction, we are running a national response that is federally supported, state managed and locally executed,” Pence said. “We are here to support the steps that you deem appropriate.”

Pence highlighted efforts to send point-of-care testing kits to every nursing home in the US (something that’s already been made public) and noted travel this week to South Carolina, Indiana and Massachusetts.

He said if governors felt it would be helpful for him or another member of the task force to travel to their state, they stood ready to move out.

“Having been a former governor, I know the value of, particularly, in educating the public about your efforts,” he said. “We will be there and can move out very very quickly.”

Arkansas’ statewide face covering mandate has begun, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday.

According to the mandate, every adult in Arkansas must wear a face covering that covers their mouth and nose in all indoor environments, where they are exposed to non-household members, distancing of six feet or more cannot be done, and in all outdoor settings where there is exposure to non-household members, unless there is ample space of six feet or more.

The governor added that if it’s going to compromise your own safety then obviously common sense has to dictate in those circumstances.

More context: Last week, Hutchinson said the mandate was needed due to the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Arkansas Department of Health has recorded 33,927 cases of coronavirus and 357 deaths since the pandemic began. 

At least 471 patients have been hospitalized and 111 are on ventilators, according to Dr. Jose Romero, the acting secretary for the state’s Department of Health.

As of Monday afternoon, 9,508 people are hospitalized in the state of Florida due to coronavirus related illness, according to data released by Florida’s Agency for Healthcare administration (ACHA).

There are now 53 hospitals in Florida without any ICU beds, according to the ACHA. That number is up from 50 this morning.

Statewide, Florida stands at 18.12% capacity for “available adult ICU hospital beds.”

Earlier today, Miami-Dade County’s Covid-19 dashboard showed ICU capacity in the county was at 130.20%, up from 127% on Sunday. And as of Monday, 513 Covid-19 ICU admissions were recorded. The ICU bed capacity in the county is 394, according to county data. 

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice reported multiple Covid-19 outbreaks in seven churches across seven counties in the state.

At his news conference Monday, Justice said there was a total of 75 cases reported at churches in Boone, Grant, Logan, Kanawha, Raleigh, Taylor and Wood counties.

He warned churchgoers to be cautious, “Please, please know that a church setting is the ideal setting to spread this virus.”

“You have got to wear a mask in church. I know that’s hard to do, I know that’s really difficult to do. But for right now, that has to be done because if we don’t, all we’re going to do is perpetuate this terrible killer into more and more and more people and we’re going to lose people,” the governor added.

State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad said at the news conference that one church in each county has an outbreak with five to eight cases per church.

The governor said the state had 89 new positive Covid-19 cases and no new deaths since last Friday.

Brazil’s Minister of Education Milton Ribeiro tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, just hours after another cabinet minister revealed he was infected earlier in the day.

“I’ve just received a positive Covid-19 result this morning. I am already medicated, and I’ll work remotely,” Ribeiro tweeted.

The minister’s spokesperson told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil that Ribeiro is working from a hotel in the capital Brasília.

Ribeiro did not specify what medication he is taking.

More top Brazilian officials are infected with coronavirus: Brazil’s Minister of Citizenship Onyx Lorenzoni tweeted Monday that he tested positive for Covid-19. In a series of tweets, Lorenzoni wrote that he was tested after his symptoms started last Friday.

Earlier this month, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for Covid-19, following months of downplaying the virus.

Three other high-ranking government officials have also previously tested positive. In March, after returning from a trip to the United States for meetings between the Brazilian and US presidents, Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque, and Institutional Security Minister General Augusto Heleno tested positive, along with Bolsonaro’s communication secretary Fabio Wajngarten and another 15 members of the Brazilian delegation.

The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has temporarily suspended in-service training after four trainees and two staff members tested positive for Covid-19 since Friday, according to a release from the department. 

Baltimore’s police department is working with the University of Baltimore to have their training facility cleaned and disinfected, and the training academy will continue through remote learning in the meantime, according to BPD.

Some context: Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65 members of the department have tested positive for Covid-19. An additional 42 members are currently out on quarantine, and 638 department employees have been quarantined for some amount of time due to potential Covid-19 exposure since the start of the pandemic, the release said.

“COVID-19 continues to challenge the policing profession, as we look to research best practices and create innovative solutions in resuming much needed training to the members of the department,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said. “We continue to examine all procedures and precautionary measures put in place to minimize exposure to COVID-19 for all of our members.”

Florida educators have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s emergency order that forces schools to open for in-person instruction next month.

President of the Florida Education Association Fedrick Ingram announced the suit against Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez, the Florida Department of Education and the Florida State Board of Education. The suit was filed in the 11th circuit court in Miami.

Corcoran issued the emergency order earlier this month, requiring all “brick and mortar schools” to open “at least five days per week for all students.”

“No one wants to be back in a classroom and reopen our school more than educators,” Ingram added. “But we want to do it safely. And we don’t want to put people at risk.”

Leaders of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association both joined the news conference in support of the lawsuit. AFT President Randi Weingarten said DeSantis, who has been pushing for schools to reopen, is in “intense denial.”

“As a national affiliate, we’ll do everything we can do to make sure not only our members are safe, but our community is safe, and that we do not lose a generation of children because of the denial and the recklessness,” Weingarten said.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said “it is a false choice to either keep schools close stop learning or open them unsafely.”

In addition to union leaders, teachers from Florida also joined the virtual news conference to issue their support.

Stefanie Miller, who had Covid and was on a ventilator for 21 days, has been a teacher in Broward County for 22 years.

“I don’t wish this on anyone,” Miller said of her recovery from the virus. “I, of course, want to go back to teaching, but it needs to be safe. There’s no way that children can sit in their seat for six hours, wearing a mask and not feel the stress of this situation. Teaching online is not optimal, but it’s best to keep teachers, personnel, and families safe.”

South Africa has reported 364,328 coronavirus cases as of Monday. Officials from the World Health Organization are concerned that the country’s rising numbers could signal greater Covid-19 spread throughout Africa.

“While South Africa is experiencing a very, very severe event, I think it is really a marker of what the continent could face, if urgent action is not taken to provide further support,” Dr. Mike Ryan, director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said Monday during a media briefing in Geneva.

South Africa has the fifth most confirmed Covid-19 infections in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Ryan said South Africa is experiencing an acceleration in Covid-19 cases, which have increased by about 30% in the last week.

“Sometimes, this disease can take off very quickly,” Ryan said. “And sometimes, in other situations, it takes off more slowly, and then accelerates – and it’s difficult to understand fully why that is the case.”

Ryan noted other countries in the region have seen Covid-19 increases, though their total case counts are still lower than South Africa’s. In the past week, cases in countries such as Madagascar, Namibia and Botswana have increased by 50%, 69% and 66%, respectively, according to Ryan.

“I’m very concerned right now that we’re beginning to see an acceleration of disease in Africa,” Ryan said. “And we all need to take that very seriously and show solidarity and support to those countries who may now be experiencing increasing numbers of cases and deaths.”

There have been at least 3,794,355 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 140,716 people have died since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

On Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 21,095 new cases and 182 deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said that between July 1 and July 16, the state exceeded its monthly Covid-19 testing goal by completing more than 140,000 tests. 

The department also announced 1,445 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and nine new confirmed deaths.

The positivity rate of those tested Sunday was 17.7%.

Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina declared a state of emergency in the country for the next 45 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Medina issued a presidential decree on Monday announcing the decision due to “the concerning increase of Covid-19 transmission and in order to avoid our public and private health system from overflowing.”

The president has not specified yet which restrictive measures will be taken during this period. 

On Sunday, the country’s civil defense announced the closure of beaches across the country in order to enable social distancing, the agency said via Instagram. 

Dominican Republic reported a total of 53,956 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, with 1,101 new cases in the last 24 hours. The country’s death toll has now reached 993. 

Some background: While the number of deaths has consistently averaged about a dozen per day this month, the number of infections reported has begun to move upwards. The daily average in the first week of July was 1,002. The daily average over the last week (to July 19) is 1,346 — an increase of one third in the number of new infections since the beginning of the month.

The director for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, had warned about an increase of cases “in hotspots on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic as well as within the Guianese Shield.”

PAHO has also reported “a significant increase of cases” in Haiti, expecting they will continue to rise in the coming weeks, Dr. Ciro Ugarte, director of Health Emergencies, said last week.

California reported 6,846 new cases of coronavirus and nine additional deaths on Monday, according to updated data from the state’s Department of Public Health.

Hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions have slightly increased. A total of 6,921 Covid-19 positive patients are hospitalized and 1,943 patients are in the ICU.

As of Monday, California has a total of 391,538 confirmed cases and 7,694 deaths.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by California Department of Public Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Spain has tallied 4,581 new coronavirus cases since last Friday as outbreaks intensify, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia, including Barcelona, and in the neighboring region of Aragon, the health ministry reported Monday.

That brings the total number of cases to at least 264,835 since the pandemic began, with at least 28,422 deaths, an increase of nine in the past week, the ministry reported.

“The outbreaks are basically associated with seasonal farm workers and in spaces where [protective] measures have been relaxed, like large family events and at nightclubs” with young people, said Health Minister Salvador Illa at a news conference.

Some background: Spain’s nationwide confinement order was lifted June 21. Spain’s 17 regional governments now directly manage the situation in their territories and the Spanish government stopped issuing daily coronavirus updates on weekends. 

Since then, there have been 201 outbreaks, and new cases tripled from late June to mid-July, said Maria Jose Sierra, a deputy head of the Center for Health Emergencies, at the news conference.

The latest surge is in metropolitan Barcelona, where Catalan officials have asked Barcelona residents to stay home except for essential business, although it’s not mandatory.

Illa expressed confidence in the containment measures in Catalonia and Aragon adding, “we have to give a few days to see the evolution of the epidemic with these measures in place.”

Georgia is reporting 3,243 new cases on Sunday for a total of 143,123 coronavirus cases statewide, according to data released by the Georgia Department of Health (DOH). 

The state also recorded five additional deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 3,173, according to the DOH.

More than 15,000 Covid-19-related hospitalizations were also recorded. 

The state reported 2,822 intensive care unit admissions. 

This post has been updated with details about the new cases.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported 3,187 Covid-19 cases since Sunday bringing the total number of cases reported to the state to 94,892, according to data released by the department of health on Monday. 

Of the 3,187 cases, 1,583 cases are attributed to a backlog collected between May 18 and July 13. The cases will be assigned to those dates on the LDH’s dashboard.

Because of the daily removal of newly identified duplicates and out of state cases, the new case increase may not match the difference between today’s and yesterday’s total case count.

Since yesterday, 33,620 new tests have been reported to the state. That brings the total number of tests to 1,102,924.

Here are more details about the cases:

There have been 29 deaths reported to the state today. The current total death count is 3,462.

The National Zoo in Washington, DC, and National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, will reopen on Friday, the Smithsonian announced today.

“As a public entity, we thrive on serving our visitors and making our collections readily available to them, virtually and in person,” Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian, said in a statement. “However, the safety and well-being of our staff, visitors and volunteers come first and are paramount, so we are taking a deliberate, phased and cautious approach to reopening. Our goal is to be safe and measured in order to adjust and pivot as necessary.”

Both buildings will reopen with multiple safety measures in place.

Here are some of those safety measures:

Indigenous people in the Americas are especially vulnerable to Covid-19, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

“Although Covid-19 is a risk for all indigenous peoples globally, WHO is deeply concerned about the impact of the virus on indigenous peoples in the Americas which remains the current epicenter of the pandemic,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization’s director-general. 

As of July 6, more than 70,000 indigenous people in the Americas had been infected with Covid-19 and more than 2,000 had died, according to WHO.

“Like other vulnerable groups, indigenous peoples face many challenges. This includes a lack of political representation, economic marginalization, and lack of access to health, education, and social services. Indigenous people often have a high burden of poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, and communicable and incommunicable diseases, making them more vulnerable to Covid-19 and its serious outcomes,” Tedros said.

Tedros said WHO is working with regional indigenous organizations in the Amazon river basin “to step up the fight against Covid-19” and urged governments to invest in contact tracing strategies.

“One of the key tools for suppressing transmission in indigenous communities and all communities is contact tracing. No country can take control of its epidemic if it doesn’t know where the virus is,” Tedros added. 

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reiterated the government’s call for global access to a successfully developed coronavirus vaccine, telling lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday that the government “rejects narrow nationalism” in the race to find a vaccine. 

“The UK is not just developing world leading vaccines, we’re also putting more money into the global work for a vaccine than any other country. With likeminded partners, we’re working to ensure that whoever’s vaccine is approved first, the whole world can have access,” Hancock said.  

“We reject narrow nationalism. We support a global effort because this virus respects no borders and we’re all on the same side,” he added. 

The health secretary’s remarks come after preliminary results from trials carried out by the University of Oxford showed that a newly developed vaccine induced a strong immunity response in patients. 

“I can report to the House that the trial shows that the Oxford vaccine produces a strong immunity response in patients, in terms of both antibody production and T-cell responses, and that no safety concerns have been identified,” Hancock told members of parliament.  

“This is promising news and it takes us one step closer to finding a vaccine that could potentially save lives all around the world,” he added.

Intensive care unit capacity in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is now at 130.20%, up from 127% on Sunday, according to the county’s Covid-19 dashboard. 

As of Monday, 513 Covid-19 ICU admissions were recorded. The ICU bed capacity in the county is 394, according to county data. 

Data released by the county on Monday also shows 2,278 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalized in Miami-Dade. Out of the 513 patients in ICU beds, 293 of those are currently on ventilators. 

The World Health Organization supports the use of masks as part of a comprehensive strategy for Covid-19, but they cannot be used as a substitute for other public health measures, said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19. 

Van Kerkhove said WHO is hearing about changes in policies from many governments, who are applying mask use as part of their Covid-19 strategy, particularly in areas with active transmission or where physical distancing is not possible.

“We support the use of masks as one of the tools that can be put in place. However, it is not a substitute for other public health measure that also must be in place,” Van Kerkhove said at a WHO briefing in Geneva on Monday. “You cannot substitute the use of a mask for hand hygiene – for cleaning your hands. You cannot substitute the use of a mask for physical distancing. You cannot substitute the use of the mask for testing, finding cases, for contact tracing, for quarantining cases.”

Everything has to be done as a part of a comprehensive approach, Van Kerkhove said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ coronavirus news conference was met with loud protests this afternoon.

DeSantis is currently holding a news briefing about his state’s response to the pandemic, and shouting can be heard throughout the governor’s remarks.

Protesters chanted “Shame on you Ron DeSantis!” and “You are lying to the public!” during the news conference.

DeSantis stopped speaking momentarily while the men were escorted out by sheriff’s deputies. “We will not be defunding the police,” the governor quipped when he began speaking again.

Watch the moment:

Venezuela is returning to planned lockdown measures, as the country reported 20% of its total number of coronavirus infections in just the past week, according to data collected by the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela reported more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus in the past three days and more than 2,000 cases in the past week.

In total, the country has reported 11,891 coronavirus cases. More than 20% of those – 2,426 cases – were reported in just the last seven days. At least 112 people are reported to have died from the coronavirus in Venezuela.

The majority of cases and deaths reported are concentrated in the two main urban areas of Caracas and Maracaibo, according to data collected by the Maduro government.

The Venezuelan opposition and international organizations have questioned the government’s capacity to trace and report coronavirus cases.

Speaking on Sunday in Caracas, Maduro urged Venezuelans to respect social distancing measures as the country returned to total lockdown from Monday. Venezuela has established a planned “7+7 lockdown approach” under which lockdown measures are relaxed for seven days and reintroduced for the following seven days.

Maduro also defended his government policy to limit the number of migrants allowed to return to Venezuela. The Maduro government has previously labeled illegal migrants as “biological weapons” and “bioterrorists.”

Some background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Maduro government has allowed only a few hundred Venezuelan migrants to return home each day, as an estimated tens of thousands have been attempting to return with lockdown measures imposed across South America.

More than 70,000 migrants have returned since March, Maduro said Sunday. He said migrants who crossed the border illegally will “infect” Venezuela with coronavirus.

At least 1,136 Venezuelan citizens have been detained after returning to the country illegally, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff Admiral Remigio Ceballos said Sunday.

President Trump says he’ll resume regular coronavirus briefings as the country experiences a resurgence of cases.

The acknowledgement came as Trump’s advisers debate a return to the daily briefings, which were a hallmark of the pandemic’s earlier days. They ceased after Trump repeatedly found himself sparring with reporters and going on tangents, including one about ingesting disinfectant.

Now, however, many of Trump’s aides worry he appears absent as the crisis continues to rage. Trump no longer attends daily coronavirus task force meetings and hasn’t held an event specifically focused on the virus in two weeks.

Trump said the revival of briefings would allow him to tout advancements on therapeutics and vaccines and explain the “positive things” his administration is doing to combat the virus.

“I think it’s a great way to get information out to the public,” Trump said, adding they would likely resume on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET — the same time he typically briefed in the spring.

“We had a good slot. A lot of people were watching,” Trump said, using television ratings lingo to describe the sessions: “We had record numbers watching,” he said. “In the history of cable television there’s never been anything like it.”

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Trump administration hopes to pass a phase four stimulus package before the end of the month, and said that negotiations for the package will start with “another trillion dollars.”

Mnuchin said the focus of this package will be “kids and jobs and vaccines,” echoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s repeated framing of the forthcoming Republican proposal. Mnuchin also claimed there will be a vaccine before the end of the year for emergency use. 

Mnuchin said they want to tweak the enhanced unemployment insurance so they “don’t pay people more money to stay home than go to work.” 

He also said the new package will have “tax credits that incentivize business to bring people back to work. We’ll have tax credits for PPE for safe work environments, and we’re going to have big incentives, money to the states, for education for schools that can open safely and do education.”

Mnuchin added that the administration wants liability protection in the new package.

Brazil’s Minister of Citizenship Onyx Lorenzoni said he tested positive for Covid-19, in a Twitter post on Monday.

In a series of tweets, Lorenzoni wrote that he was tested after his symptoms started last Friday. He said he started the so-called “Covid-kit” treatment, a cocktail of drugs promoted by some medical doctors who back Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s claim that it’s an effective treatment in the early stages of the novel coronavirus.

“I have been following the azithromycin, ivermectin, and chloroquine protocol since Friday and I already feel the positive effects,” Lorenzoni wrote on his Twitter account.

About the drugs: The Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (SBI), in a report published Friday, urged medical professionals to stop using hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus, because it has been proved ineffective and can cause collateral damage. 

A week earlier, Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency which regulates pharmaceuticals, ANVISA, released a statement saying there is no conclusive proof that ivermectin is effective as Covid-19 treatment.

In addition to Bolsonaro, who tested positive on July 7, three other high-ranking government officials have previously tested positive. 

After Bolsonaro tested positive for Covid-19, several of his close ministers were tested in the following days. None of them tested positive.

Lorenzoni did not have any official meetings with Bolsonaro in recent weeks.

The state of Florida is reporting at least 10,347 new cases of Covid-19 and 90 additional deaths on Monday, according to data released by the Florida Department of Health. 

This brings the state’s total cases to more than 360,000 since the pandemic began, according to the state department of health. The statewide resident death toll is now at least 5,072. 

Here’s a look at new daily cases in Florida over the past two weeks:

The Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 115 civil citations for noncompliance of county mask and social distancing orders. 

Last week, the Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to approve an emergency order that allows fines to be issued to people not complying with the guidelines. 

Authorities issued 67 individual citations and 48 business citations, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department. 

Individual citations are $100 and $500 for businesses.

When Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms enforced a mask mandate in Atlanta, Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp filed a lawsuit against her, calling the mandate a violation of his emergency orders that prohibits local leaders from adding to the state’s requirements to protect against coronavirus.

Despite this action, Mayor Kelly Girtz also mandated masks in Athens, Georgia. However, he says he has not been sued yet.

He highlighted the importance of how a mask mandate creates a “level playing field” that ensures equal safety for everyone alike.

“It’s the 30% of our population living in poverty, who are clerks at grocery stores, who are cleaning homes, who are maintaining facilities. So we’re all in this together. So if we have a level playing field with a mask mandate, whether you’re in a small business or a large, that maintains that level of order, in the same way that a residential speed limit of 25 miles an hour does the same in front of your home and mine.”

In addition to the residents, Athens also hosts about 40,000 university students, which is of concern to the mayor.

“I know that young people think of themselves as invulnerable, but the reality is that they are not,” he said. “Young people are by nature, again, loosey-goosey.”

“What we want is for everyone to take this deeply seriously, because in order for us to come out of this pandemic, we are going to need to all be practicing the best behavior possible. And frankly, when I ride down some of the college-occupied streets in this town, I don’t see the best behavior right now, and we are going to need to step up our game.”

While dozens of hospitals in Florida are reporting 0% of ICU beds available, Miami-Dade’s Jackson Health System is teetering every day, the CEO says, adding that they may be preparing for a plan B and C, given the growth in cases.

“We’re building a 100 new ICU beds but unfortunately, they’re not going to be around until the end of the year,” President CEO Carlos Migoya told CNN. “We’ve only seen a [case] growth of 60% in the last 14 days and in specific ICU only 18%, we expect those numbers to grow a little higher, and for that reason, we may be putting plans B and C into place.”

The hospital staff is also under strain during this surge. At least 200 employees have tested positive for Covid-19 and aren’t coming in to work currently, he said. Out of those 200, 37 are nurses.

“Gov. DeSantis has helped us out quite a bit by providing an extra 200 nurses to us at this point in time, and actually been extremely important for us. We’ve also hired another 90 or 100 nurses but all of that is influx at this point in time. It’s a big challenge and a lot of anxiety for everyone,” he said.

Under this strain, health care workers at the Jackson Health System have asked for hazard pay. However, Migoya says they’re not able to provide it at this point.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s progress in beating back Covid-19 is still “all very good.”

Here’s a look at the numbers in New York:

One thing to note: These numbers were released by New York State’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

New York Gov. Cuomo said it was a mistake for other state governments to listen to the President’s calls to open up during the pandemic. 

Cuomo said the federal government has been “incompetent” and “in denial” on the situation and has “pressured” states “to reopen recklessly, which they did.”

“Liberate, liberate, liberate,” he said harkening to the President’s tweets on the matter. 

He said people are fleeing from other states to New York to find a safe haven from the virus. “Those other states have to get the virus under control,” he said.

New York has police in the airport and a form individuals flying from impacted states need to fill out. It’s illegal to leave the airport without doing so.

There is no enforcement mechanism for people driving into the state, Cuomo said.

Preliminary results of a Phase 1/2 trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford suggest that it is safe and induces an immune response.

The vaccine provoked an antibody response within 28 days and a T-cell response within 14 days, according to a release from the medical journal The Lancet. 

The trial included 1,077 people age 18 to 55 with no history of Covid-19 and took place in five UK hospitals from late April to late May. Participants received the Covid-19 vaccine or the meningococcal conjugate vaccine, as a control group.

“The immune system has two ways of finding and attacking pathogens – antibody and T cell responses. This vaccine is intended to induce both, so it can attack the virus when it’s circulating in the body, as well as attacking infected cells,” University of Oxford Professor Andrew Pollard, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “We hope this means the immune system will remember the virus, so that our vaccine will protect people for an extended period.”

“However, we need more research before we can confirm the vaccine effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and for how long any protection lasts,” the statement added.

There were no serious adverse event related to the vaccine; fatigue and headache were the most commonly reported reactions. Other common side effects included pain at the injection site, muscle ache, malaise, chills, feeling feverish and high temperature.

The vaccine is one of 23 Covid-19 vaccines currently in clinical trials globally, according to the World Health Organization.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is heading to Savannah, Georgia, today, he said speaking from John F Kennedy International airport. 

He will meet with the mayor and his team to share what New York did, help them with testing and tracing programs, and will transport thousands of items of personal protective equipment.

“Whatever they need from us they’re going to get,” Cuomo said.

He said when New York was “in the thick” of it, 30,000 health professionals from around the country offered to come to the state.  He said he was honored and touched by the generosity and said New Yorkers “don’t forget.”

Per the law, Gov. Cuomo will not have to quarantine upon his return because he is an essential worker, he said.

Georgia is among the states where an incoming individual is required to quarantine upon arrival to New York for 14 days, per state mandate.

Cuomo said he will take a test upon his return.

Secretary to the governor Melissa De Rosa added the law also has an exception if you are passing through a state for less than 24 hours.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a warning to revelers appearing to congregate in spite of the state mandates: “Don’t be stupid.”

He also threatened to roll back the opening plan if this continues. 

“We have to protect the progress we have made,” he said. “We are not in a static environment, a lot is going on.”

He said one main threat to New York’s progress is the number of congregations, primarily in downstate, and primarily involving young people. 

He said this with a slide showing images from Astoria, Queens, and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. “It has continued unabated and it is getting worse,” he said.

“I’m telling you in plain New York speak, as a born and bred New Yorker, it’s stupid what you’re doing… Don’t be stupid.” 

“We cannot allow those congregations to continue,” Cuomo said, adding, “if it happens.. we’re going to have to roll back the opening plan, and we’re going to have to close bars and restaurants.” 

He also called on local governments to enforce the law, not naming any governments in particular.

New York City is entering phase four of reopening today, but it’s a slightly different phase four than other parts of New York state experienced.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that indoor dining would not be allowed to resume in phase four since it’s considered a “high risk” activity.

In other parts of the state, indoor dining was allowed to resume in phase three.

De Blasio also announced that museums will also be “still closed for now.” But shopping malls are included in phase four for areas of the state outside of New York City, according to state guidelines.

So here’s a look at what will open in New York City’s phase four, according to the mayor:

At least 10 adult ICUs in Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of Florida’s coronavirus pandemic, have no beds available, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration website as of 9 a.m. ET today.

For context, there are at least 24 hospitals in Miami Dade County with adult ICU bed capabilities. Ten of them — more than 40% — are at capacity. 

Nearby Broward County has at least six ICUs with 0% of bed available, according to the website.

You can check the ICU capacity at hospitals across Florida here.

Morehouse and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, announced on Monday that students will not be returning to campus for the Fall 2020 semester due to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases. 

“Because of the worsening health crisis, we have reluctantly come to the realization that we can no longer safely sustain a residential campus and in-person instruction. With a sense of great disappointment, I now share with you our decision that all instruction for the fall of 2020 at Spelman will be virtual,” Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell said in a statement.

Both colleges had fully anticipated that they would open campuses for in-person instruction for the fall semester however due to the worsening health crisis in both the city of Atlanta and Fulton County, the colleges changed course, according to a news release. 

It remains unclear if the schools will reopen their campuses for students for the Spring 2021 semester. 

Iraq on Monday recorded 2,163 new coronavirus cases, according to the country’s health ministry.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in Iraq to 94,693 according to the ministry.

The health ministry also reported 88 new Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the total to 3,869 deaths across the country.

The American Bankers Association (ABA), which represents large and small banks, joined other business groups in calling for its members to adopt national mask mandates “to protect the health of bank employees and customers.”  

“We owe it to frontline bank staff to prioritize their safety and to contribute to the wider effort to limit the spread of this infection,” said Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO, in a release on Monday.

Last week, The National Retail Federation urged all retailers to adopt a nationwide masks policies for customers. 

Other groups, including the Business Roundtable and the US Chamber of Commerce, lobbied President Trump and governors to enact a “national mask standard, implemented locally.”  

CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report

US Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that getting retested multiple times for Covid-19 is unnecessary, if someone has been symptom-free for three or more days, or if it has been 10 or more days since the onset of their symptoms.

“It has always been a CDC guideline,” Giroir said on New Day Monday, “that if you are 10 days or more since the onset of your symptoms and you’re three days or more symptom free, you do not need to be retested.”

“We have lots of data now that shows after eight or nine days, you cannot transmit the virus – the virus is gone,” he said. “What we’re seeing now is people getting retested four, five, six, eight times – and that’s completely unnecessary.”

Giroir also said that it is known that PCR tests can be positive and a person not be infectious. This can keep people out of schools and workplaces unnecessarily.

“It wastes resources, clogs up the system and it’s unnecessary,” Giroir said. “You do not need to be retested if you follow those clinical guidelines.”

The exception is if you’re in the hospital, very sick or immunocompromised, as you can shed the virus for a lot longer and that is a different situation, according to Giroir.

WATCH:

European Union leaders have come up with a “framework” for a possible agreement on the EU coronavirus recovery fund after overnight negotiations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Brussels.

“Last night — after long negotiations — we have come up with a framework for a possible agreement. That is progress — and it gives us hope that there may be an agreement today or at least that an agreement is possible,” Merkel said on Monday.

EU leaders have been locked in heated negotiations about the economic recovery plan for three days, including overnight Sunday into Monday, with the sticking points including the size of loans versus grants.

Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, the so-called “Frugal Four,” had vehemently opposed the idea of 500 billion euros ($571 billion) in grants over concerns of loading their countries with national debt to fund the spending of other countries.

Whereas countries like Spain and Italy said they couldn’t accept a reduction in the volume of grants.

Merkel said it was “clear negotiations would be incredibly tough” but that negotiations continue. 

“But extraordinary situations also require extraordinary efforts. So far we have lived up to this and I hope we will be able to make it the rest of the distance, which will not be easy,” Merkel told reporters.

Peru’s Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti admitted Covid-19 cases have increased in the country since the government eased the total lockdown and resumed some economic activities on July 1.

“At the moment we are seeing a slight increase” Mazzetti told a local TV station on Sunday evening.

On Sunday evening, Peru’s Health Ministry reported 4,090 new Covid-19 cases bringing the total number to 353,590. The number of new cases in the last 24 hours is the highest increase in the last 10 days. Lima region, Peru’s capital, continues to be the area with the highest number of infections.

Peru’s government has extended the country’s state of emergency until July 31 and allowed localized lockdowns in 7 of 24 regions, permitting some economic activities to resume gradually. On Monday, restaurants in these regions are expected to reopen with a limit of 40% of their capacity. 

Peru has the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases in Latin America, after Brazil.

Walmart will require customers at all of its US stores to wear masks beginning today, becoming the largest retailer to mandate facial coverings as coronavirus cases continue to rise.

About 65% of Walmart’s more than 5,000 stores, including its Sam’s Club locations, are located in areas where there is a government mandate on face coverings.

“To help bring consistency across stores and clubs, we will require all shoppers to wear a face covering starting Monday, July 20,” Walmart US chief operating officer Dacona Smith and Sam’s Club chief operating officer Lance De La Rosa said in a blog post last week. “This will give us time to inform customers and members of the changes, post signage and train associates on the new protocols.”

Although no federal mandate to wear a mask exists, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says everyone “should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public.” The CDC said “face coverings are meant to protect other people.”

Walmart said it will enforce the new policy by stationing “health ambassadors” near the entrance to remind shoppers of the requirement.

Some background: Other national chains have made similar moves as Walmart. Kroger and Kohl’s announced they would start requiring all customers to wear masks, signaling that more retailers are lining up behind mask-wearing mandates. The National Retail Federation, the main lobbying group for the industry, also called on retailers to require masks for customers.

Most major retailers and grocers initially hesitated to enact their own mask mandates for customers during the pandemic, partly over fears of antagonizing shoppers who refuse to wear them. Retailers have said they are reluctant to put their employees in the position of enforcing mask requirements.

The Trump administration has been engaged in discussions on the next stimulus bill for the past week, but negotiations will start “in earnest” today on Capitol Hill, the White House said.

Where Republicans stand: GOP senators CNN has spoken to say the plan is to present the pieces of the GOP proposal at the closed-door Senate GOP policy lunch. The proposal itself would be released publicly sometime midweek.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stuck to a simple framing for the forthcoming GOP proposal for weeks: it’s about jobs, kids and health care. It’s messaging, sure, but it also encapsulates the stated approach for each of the committee chairs who drafted pieces of the bill. 

What the Democrats want: Democrats already have their proposal on the table — the $3 trillion House-passed measure known as the Heroes Act. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has made clear that’s what Democrats will be fighting for in the negotiations — and that any talks must include House Democrats.

As one Democratic senator told me this weekend: “The onus is on them. We’ve been clear about where we are and how crucial it is that this be taken seriously for months. We’re here and have been her. It’s time for them to get in the game.”

Remember: The time window is tight, but get ready for a slog. Democrats and Republicans are far apart on central details, but the impetus to get something done, while not unanimous as it largely was in March, is still quite palpable. But the road between now and Trump signing something into law is filled with hurdles, road blocks and potential pitfalls. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week she is “absolutely” willing to delay the August congressional recess for Covid-19 aid package negotiations.

“Yes, we are having increased cases, predominantly in the sunbelt,” Admiral Brett Giroir told Alisyn Camerota on CNN’s New Day Monday. “We are having more cases that we did a week ago, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, four weeks ago – that is very clear,” he added.

Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he would like to point out that there are probably fewer cases compared to April because of more testing, but “there is no question we are having a surge right now. We are approaching this with extreme seriousness.” 

According to Giroir, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teams have been sent into every state, surge teams have visited 19 sites, surge testing is happening and medical professionals are being deployed across the country.

 Giroir said that masks, physical distancing and hand washing are all incredibly important.

WATCH:

As US cities and states navigate their next steps to combat the rapid spread of Covid-19, unwanted records keep getting smashed.

Here are some hotspots that broke records over the weekend:

Meanwhile, at least 31 states are seeing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week. Here’s a look at where cases are rising across the country:

As of Monday morning, 9,362 people are hospitalized in the state of Florida due to coronavirus related illness, according to data released by Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA). 

The three hardest hit southern counties in the state are: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County. Miami-Dade has recorded 2,008 hospitalizations. Broward County is seeing 1,240 hospitalizations and Palm Beach has recorded 618, according to AHCA.

More than 3 million people in Florida have been tested for Covid-19, with at least 350,047 testing positive.

The overall positivity rate as of 7:30 a.m. ET today is 18.7% up from 18.2% on Sunday, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

Watch Jackson Health System President & CEO:

Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed President Trump, saying he does not think a national mask mandate is necessary, but at the same time urged all Americans to continue to wear face coverings. 

“This administration really fights to protect our freedoms, but we want people to know freedom comes with responsibility and part of that responsibility means wearing a face covering when you go out,” Adams said in an interview on Fox News.  

Asked about a national mask mandate, Adams said “in many cases we are letting the politics and the policy get in the way of the actual practice.” Adams said that the science shows that wearing masks will allow for America to reopen and stay open sooner. 

The surgeon general said he believes a mandate would work better at a local and state level than a federal level because if there was a federal mandate, there would need to be a way for the federal government to enforce it. 

“If you are going to have a federal mandate you have to have a federal enforcement mechanism and right now as scientist and an educator, I would rather help people understand why they should cooperate with wearing a mask and how they benefit from it, versus just simply saying we are going to force you to do it, particularly by sending in federal troops or using federal mechanisms,” Adams said.

What Trump has said: In an interview with Fox that aired Sunday, President Trump said he does not feel a national mask mandate is necessary because he wants people to “have a certain freedom”

Trump said over the weekend that he does not believe the disease will go away if everyone wears masks.

The novel coronavirus has infected 14.5 million people worldwide and killed at least 606,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Here’s the latest on the Covid-19 pandemic.

India cases surge: The country has recorded 40,425 new virus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since the outbreak began.

Brazil’s leader greets supporters despite being positive for Covid-19: Jair Bolsonaro took a walk on the grounds of his presidential palace Sunday and greeted crowds despite his diagnosis. Supporters were separated from the President by a small water canal, but two people crossed over to his side. One man helped another, who appeared to have a physical disability, walk close to the President for a greeting.

Hong Kong reports 73 new cases Monday: City officials are struggling to get new outbreaks under control. Among 66 locally transmitted cases, 27 were untraceable. 

Demonstrators protest mask law in London: Hundreds of people gathered in the city on Sunday to protest against the wearing of face masks, days before it becomes mandatory to wear them in stores in England.

Xinjiang capital in “wartime” lockdown: A “wartime” state has been declared in the capital of Xinjiang, home to China’s persecuted Muslim-majority Uyghur ethnic group, after 17 local infections were recorded on Sunday.

China’s massive box office began to reopen on Monday after the coronavirus pandemic spurred a shutdown lasting roughly six months.

The China Film Administration announced late last week that movie theaters in “low-risk” areas could reopen from Monday with a few precautions. Audience members are required to wear masks and take temperature checks, and cinemas are expected to operate at 30% capacity. Eating and drinking in the theater is also prohibited.

The “low-risk” requirement effectively means that most of the country should be able to reopen cinemas, according to the Global Times, a state-run tabloid.

Ticket sales for Monday’s box office surpassed 2.8 million yuan ($400,000) just before 5 pm local time, according to Maoyan, a major Chinese ticketing platform.

The Chinese film “A First Farewell,” about a boy from Xinjiang, along with the 2017 Pixar film “Coco” and the Chinese thriller “Sheep Without A Shepherd” grossed the most in pre-sales, according to the Global Times.

China is home to a huge movie industry that generated more than $9 billion in box office sales last year — second only to the United States.

Read more here.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in London on Sunday to protest against the wearing of face masks, days before it becomes mandatory to wear face coverings in stores in England.

A small crowd descended on Hyde Park in central London to voice their opposition to masks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced it will become compulsory to wear them in shops from Friday.

Some protesters waved placards referring to masks as “mind control” devices, while others were pictured promoting baseless conspiracy theories including the flat earth theory and a supposed link between 5G and Covid-19. Several demonstrators wore masks to illustrate their opposition to face masks.

The gathering was organized by a group called Keep Britain Free, which claims on its website to support: “Freedom of speech, choice and thought.”

A number of studies have found that the coronavirus spreads mainly via airborne transmission and wearing a mask is the most effective way to stop person-to-person spread.

Read more here.

Hong Kong reported 73 new coronavirus cases on Monday, seven of which were imported, bringing the city’s tally to 1,958, health officials said.

Among the 66 locally transmitted cases, 27 were untraceable. 

The newly confirmed cases are mainly related to previous cluster outbreaks in the city. Two of the new cases were linked to a large birthday party, one case was linked to an outbreak centered on a clinic and more were recorded in the city’s Tsz Wan Shan neighborhood.

Twenty-four of the new cases were transmitted between family members.

Cases are rising sharply in Hong Kong, which recorded more than 170 cases over the last weekend.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said officials needed a few more days to understand the trend in numbers.

She added that if cases continued to rise, more stringent measures for epidemic control will be enforced.

Over the weekend, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam extended social distancing measures and announced non-essential civil servants will be required to work from home.

French President Emanuel Macron “slammed his fist on the table” in anger during crunch overnight talks on the EU coronavirus recovery fund, French officials told CNN.

The officials said there had been a “tough moment last night” as European leaders struggle to reach an agreement on the recovery plan after three days of talks.

The Elysee Palace later claimed that Macron had only “metaphorically” slammed the table, but acknowledged that he had lost his patience during negotiations.

The bloc’s members have so far failed to reach a deal.

At the center of discussions is a proposal put forward by the European Commission in May. That plan would see the Commission raise €750 billion ($857 billion) on financial markets, alongside the regular EU budget for 2021-27.

Under that plan, two-thirds of the recovery funds would be distributed to countries via grants, while the remainder would be offered as loans.

But Austria, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden – the so-called “frugal” countries - opposed the idea of issuing grants and now want strict conditions attached to them.

France and Germany have worked together to “mobilize their partners for an agreement” French officials said, with Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel doing “everything to bring the most reluctant countries to agree to €400 billion ($450bn) [in subsidies].”

The officials claimed that after the Franco-German intervention the “frugal” countries started to “budge slightly,” and that there was now an avenue open for a possible agreement.

A short plenary session was held at 5:30 a.m. local time in Brussels (11:30 p.m. ET Sunday) and a new proposal will be presented at 4 p.m. in Belgium (10 a.m. ET) on Monday, French officials said.

This post has been updated.

A “wartime” state has been declared in the capital of Xinjiang, home to China’s persecuted Muslim-majority Uyghur ethnic group, as authorities implement strict and sweeping measures to stem a spike in coronavirus cases.

The city of Urumqi reported 17 local infections Sunday, meaning that 47 cases have been identified since last Wednesday. Before that, it had not recorded a single case in nearly five months, according to the Xinjiang health authorities.

Since last week, Urumqi has also recorded 50 asymptomatic cases. In China, these are not considered confirmed cases under government guidelines.

To stop the outbreak escalating, authorities are now implementing the so-called Beijing model.

Read more here.

The UK government has admitted that it launched its Covid-19 test and trace program without complying with a key aspect of data protection law.

Under British law, officials were required to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) before launching the program on May 28, but failed to do so.

The impact assessment is a “legal requirement for any type of processing, including certain specified types of processing that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals,” according to the UK’s information commissioner’s office.

The UK Department of Health made the admission in a letter to the privacy campaigning organization Open Rights Group (ORG).

The government also maintains that there is no evidence that the information that has been collected has been used unlawfully.

ORG had threatened to proceed with legal action over the breach.

In the letter, dated July 15, the government conceded that the assessment was required and had not been in place when the test and trace scheme was launched.

“Such a DPIA is currently being finalised, drawing on the extensive data protection compliance work,” the letter says. 

“The reckless behavior of this government in ignoring a vital and legally required safety step known as the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has endangered public health,” ORG executive director Jim Killock said in a statement on Monday.
“We have a ‘world beating’ unlawful Test and Trace programme. A crucial element in the fight against the pandemic is mutual trust between the public and the government, which is undermined by their operating the programme without basic privacy safeguards. The government bears responsibility for the public health consequences.” 

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “There is no evidence of data being used unlawfully. NHS Test and Trace is committed to the highest ethical and data governance standards – collecting, using, and retaining data to fight the virus and save lives, while taking full account of all relevant legal obligations.”

“We have rapidly created a large scale test and trace system in response to this unprecedented pandemic. The programme is able to offer a test to anyone who needs one and trace the contacts of those who test positive, to stop the spread of the virus.”

North Korea says it is joining the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, a global contest that has already drafted in some of the world’s best medical minds and is shaping up to cost billions of dollars.

Just don’t expect it to take the lead anytime soon.

If North Korea’s State Commission of Science and Technology is to be believed, clinical trials for the country’s domestic vaccine candidate are already underway – and a debate is now happening about how to proceed with the third phase, which involves human testing.

To the outside world, the claim could appear dubious.

The race to develop a vaccine for a disease that has infected nearly 14.5 million people and killed more than 605,000 globally is one of the most daunting and pressing technological and scientific challenges the world has faced in recent memory. It will likely cost huge sums of money, and nations are investing heavily to win what’s shaping up to become a competition of scientific superiority and national pride.

Yet North Korea has one of the most dilapidated health care systems on the planet, and for decades it has relied on assistance from the World Health Organization to supply its people with vaccines and immunizations. Then there’s the fact that Pyongyang has not publicly admitted to any infections inside the country.

Read more here.

In a further move to contain the epidemic, face masks have become mandatory in more enclosed spaces in France as of Monday morning.

The measure imposed by the French government will require the use of face masks in shops, banks and shopping malls. They were already compulsory in many other indoor spaces like cinemas, museums and places of worship.

There are exceptions to the law.

Employees who interact with the public are included in the law and will have to wear masks. But other companies are free to impose their own rules on mask wearing, following guidelines from the Labor Ministry.

Enforcement is left to the people running the various establishments, with authorities only providing them with a sign saying that masks are compulsory.

Police can fine people who don’t wear masks when required a sum of €135 ($155).

Six members of US Forces Korea (USFK) and four dependants have tested positive for coronavirus after arriving in South Korea from the US, USFK said in a statement Monday.

This brings the total number of USFK-affiliated individuals with Covid-19 to 98, the military organization confirmed.

Among the fresh spate of cases are five service members and four dependants who arrived at the Osan Air Base on US government chartered flights on July 12, 14 and 15.

Another service member who landed at Incheon International Airport on a commercial flight on July 13 also tested positive for Covid-19.

Six of the 10 individuals tested positive on a mandatory initial test. The remaining four tested negative on their first test, but later developed symptoms and were retested with positive results.

All 10 have been transferred to isolation facilities on either South Kora’s Camp Humphreys or Osan Air Base.

All personnel entering South Korea are tested and quarantined for 14 days, USFK previously said in a tweet.

General Robert Abrams, Commander of USFK, told American Forces Network radio that 74 cases among the total 98 cases were imported.

There has been no domestic transmission within USFK since mid-April, it confirmed.

India has recorded 40,425 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since the outbreak began, the country’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced today.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India has now reached 1,118,043, the third-highest in the world, according to the Indian government.

India reported 681 new deaths today, raising the country’s death toll to 27,497.

Delhi said it has so far tested more than 14 million people countrywide for coronavirus, in an attempt to get a handle on the country’s expanding epidemic.

The British government has secured early access to more than 90 million vaccine doses as well as Covid-19 neutralizing antibody treatments, Business Secretary Alok Sharma announced today.

The announcement follows an existing global licensing agreement signed with AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to research, develop and manufacture 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine for the UK public.

“The hunt to find a vaccine is a truly global endeavor, and we are doing everything we can to ensure the British public get access to a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible,” Sharma said, announcing a partnership with companies BioNTech/Pfizer and Valneva, which are developing vaccines against COVID-19.
“This new partnership with some of the world’s foremost pharmaceutical and vaccine companies will ensure the UK has the best chance possible of securing a vaccine that protects those most at risk.”

France-based Pharmaceutical Valneva confirmed the “agreement in principle” with the British government saying it would “provide up to 100 million doses of its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate.”

“The UK government is expected to contribute to UK clinical studies costs and is negotiating funding to expand Valneva’s Scottish facility,” it also said. 

Sharma encouraged people to sign up for a newly created NHS website which aims to make it “quicker and easier” for volunteers to join studies and trials. 

“The public can also play their part in vaccine research through the new NHS vaccine research register,” he said, setting a target of 500,000 people on the platform by October. “By signing up and participating in important clinical studies, together we can speed up the search for a vaccine and end the pandemic sooner.”

According to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases in the United States, there were 61,487 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported on Sunday.

To date, there are at least 3,773,260 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US.

There were 415 new fatalities recorded on Sunday, bringing the US death toll to at least 140,534.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

For regular updates, follow CNN’s map which refreshes every 15 mins: 

After three days of marathon talks, European leaders have been unable to reach an agreement on a landmark initiative to fund Europe’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis. Leaders will reconvene in Brussels on Monday afternoon.

After all-night discussions, talks stalled early Monday after leaders couldn’t find a way to break through on long list of disagreements including the size of loans and grants required for the EU’s economic recovery plan.

European Council President Charles Michel had proposed that countries would be able to access a recovery package of more than $857 billion (€750 billion) from which $571 billion (€500 billion) would be paid as grants.

Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, the so-called “Frugal Four,” had vehemently opposed the idea of €500 billion in grants over concerns of loading their countries with national debt to fund the spending of other countries.

Countries like Spain and Italy said they couldn’t accept a reduction in the volume of grants.

“For us, we don’t believe in this grants-based system,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, speaking to journalists on Friday. The Netherlands had proposed linking access to grants to an increased governance mechanism to ensure that countries met the requirements for receiving money.

President Donald Trump just offered a telling glimpse into his priorities as the coronavirus lengthens its trail of death and sickness.

Not bothering to hide his indifference and contempt for science, the President made clear on Sunday that it’s more important to him to be ultimately proven right about the pandemic than to reconsider his disastrous approach that is doing little to stop its deadly spread.

Until then, America must endure crammed ICUs in virus-ravaged states, thousands more deaths and the prospect of cities slumping back into economically crippling lockdowns that crush hopes of a return to work and school with normal life as only a memory.

Trump’s passive leadership becomes more neglectful the worse the crisis gets – with more than 140,000 Americans now dead.

“I’ll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, ‘It’s going to disappear.’ I’ll say it again,” Trump said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

Read more here:

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event about regulatory reform on the South Lawn of the White House on July 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. On Wednesday, President Trump announced a rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act. The administrations changes to the law aim to decrease the number of infrastructure projects that will be subject to federal NEPA review, hoping to shorten long permit processes and speed up approval. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Related article Trump insists he's 'right' on the virus as more Americans get sick and die

Mexico’s coronavirus epidemic is continuing to grow, with the country’s death toll now nearing 40,000 people.

The Health Ministry reported 296 people died of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours on Sunday. To date, a total of 39,184 people have died of the coronavirus since the pandemic began. 

Mexican authorities also announced 5,311 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 344,224.

The Australian state of Victoria has reported 275 new coronavirus cases in the past day, most of which are still under investigation, State Premier Daniel Andrews announced at a press conference today.

Of the 275 new cases, 28 were linked to known outbreaks, while 247 are still being looked into by Victorian authorities.

Andrews also announced that a woman in her 80s had died due to Covid-19, bringing Victoria’s death toll to 35.

The number of coronavirus-related patients in hospitals in Victoria has risen to 147 with 31 in ICU, Andrews said.

On July 8, Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, a regional area of Victoria, returned to a Stage Three lockdown for six weeks amid a rise in cases. 

People are only allowed to leave their homes to buy food, go to work, receive or give care and exercise, according to the Victoria government.

Osaka, the second largest prefecture in Japan, announced its highest daily total of new coronavirus cases yet, half of which it said were still untraceable.

Japan recorded 510 coronavirus cases on Sunday, the Health Ministry said in a statement released today. Osaka confirmed 89 infections on Sunday, including 59 untraceable cases.

This is the highest daily figure reported in the prefecture since April 9.

Another 188 cases were reported in Tokyo on Sunday, the first time in four days that the number fell below 200, the statement read.

No new deaths were reported on Sunday.

The total number of confirmed cases across Japan is now 25,808, which includes 25,096 land cases and 712 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. 

Ls than a quarter of Japanese are looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics next year amid the Covid-19 outbreak, according to a survey published by Kyodo News on Sunday.

The survey showed only 23.9% of Japanese residents supported holding the Summer Games beginning on July 23 next year as scheduled. 

Meanwhile, 36.4% of respondents believed the games should be further postponed, while another 33.7% said the event should be canceled amid the pandemic.

Respondents said the main reasons were because the virus was unlikely to be contained anytime soon, and that the Japanese government should prioritize its fight against Covid-19 in the country.

Organizers have rescheduled the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to start July 23 next year due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Kyodo said the survey sampled 1,041 respondents, who were chosen from randomly selected eligible voters’ households and mobile numbers.

Dta is strengthening its policy on face masks starting Monday – telling passengers who can’t wear a mask because of a health condition to consider staying home.

The airline said if not, the passenger must complete a health screening before being allowed to fly. 

“We encourage customers who are prevented from wearing a mask due to a health condition to reconsider travel,” Delta told CNN in a statement.
“If they decide to travel, they will be welcome to fly upon completing a virtual consultation prior to departure at the airport to ensure everyone’s safety, because nothing is more important.”

The consultation will be conducted in private, over the phone. Depending on the outcome of that screening, Delta will decide whether the passenger will be allowed to travel without wearing a mask.

Delta will partner with STAT-MD for the consultations.

STAT-MD “provides inflight emergency consultation as well as fitness to fly ground screening,” according to its website.

Ehty-seven doctors have signed a letter to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey urging him not to reopen schools until at least October. 

Ducey has pushed the traditional August 1 school opening to an “aspirational” date of August 17. He has indicated that he’ll make a decision on school reopenings next week. 

“We are a group of health care providers from across the great state of Arizona. Many of us are also parents of school-age children,” the letter said. “We share a common concern: that the tremendous pressure to return to in-person schooling in August is ill-advised and dangerous given the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in our community.” 

When the governor shut schools down and issued a Safer at Home order on March 30 there were about 1,000 positive cases a week. Last week Arizona logged about 26,000 cases. 

Currently, the seven-day average positivity rate is the highest in the country at 24.4%. 

Gf legend Jack Nicklaus announced Sunday he and his wife, Barbara, tested positive for Covid-19 in March. The 80-year-old, who is hosting this week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, told Jim Nantz on Sunday’s CBS telecast he dealt with a sore throat and a cough and that his wife was asymptomatic.

Nicklaus said he and his wife tested positive on March 13 and stayed at their home in North Palm Beach, Florida, until they recovered April 20. Nicklaus tested positive for the virus four times and his wife tested positive three times, but both have since tested negative for the virus and positive for the antibodies.

This week’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where Nicklaus designed the course, has been played without spectators in attendance.

Health officials in Los Angeles have reported the highest number of hospitalizations in a day with 2,216 people hospitalized, up from the previous record of 2,193, set July 15.

Eleven people died and 2,848 new cases were reported Sunday, according to a Los Angeles Department of Public Health news release. This is a significant drop in both of those numbers from the past week.

More than half of all new cases reported in Los Angeles were in people younger than 41, the release said.

Across the state, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reports that both hospitalizations and the positivity rate continue to trend upward in the 14-day average.

The seven-day average number of new cases has surpassed 9,000, with 9,127 per day. 

The 32 counties on the state’s “watch list” that have shut down most indoor activities are home to 80% of California’s population, according to CPDH.

California has 384,692 confirmed cases and 7,685 deaths due to coronavirus.

Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right President of Brazil and his country’s highest-profile Covid-19 patient, took a walk on the grounds of his presidential palace Sunday afternoon and greeted a crowd of supporters, video broadcast live on his Facebook page showed.

While Bolsonaro was wearing a mask, he was closely flanked by a number of aides who did not appear to consistently maintain a significant social distance from him. He repeatedly lowered his mask while talking, including when aides were nearby. 

Supporters were separated from the President by a small water canal, but two people crossed over to Bolsonaro’s side. One man helped a second man, who appeared to have a physical disability, walk close to the President for a greeting.

Bolsonaro also raised what appeared to be a small box of medicine. During the pandemic, Bolsonaro has repeatedly endorsed the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine, even though the Brazilian Society of Infectious Disease issued a report Friday calling for medical professionals to stop using the drug for Covid-19 patients. Bolsonaro has said he has taken it since testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 23,529 new cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 2,098,389.

The Health Ministry also reported 716 new Covid-19 deaths, raising the country’s death toll to 79,488.

Researchers in South Korea have found that children between the ages of 10 and 19 can transmit Covid-19 within a household just as much as adults, according to new research published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Researchers also found that children ages 9 and younger transmitted the virus within their household at rates that were a lot lower.

Researchers from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at reports of 59,073 contacts of 5,706 coronavirus patients.

Overall, the researchers detected Covid-19 in 11.8% of 10,592 household contacts. For 48,481 non-household contacts, 1.9% tested positive for Covid-19.

When the initial patient in a household was younger than 10, the researchers found that 5.3% of household contacts tested positive for Covid-19. When the initial patient was between the ages of 10 and 19, 18.6% of contacts tested positive.

Researchers also found that the highest Covid-19 rate for household contacts of school-age children and the lowest rates for children younger than 9 was the middle of school closures.

“Although the detection rate for contacts of preschool-aged children was lower, young children may show higher attack rates when the school closure ends, contributing to community transmission of Covid-19,” the study said.

Jha said that, ultimately, what you want to do is get the virus suppressed in the community so schools can reopen safely.

“You might have a different threshold for getting kids kindergarten through 5, let’s say, back in at an earlier level,” Jha said. “And you may need to wait a little bit longer until the virus levels really are down before you open up high schools.”

There are some limitations to the study, the authors said, including that the number of cases may have been underestimated and that they were unable to assess the true difference in transmissibility between household and non-household contacts because of the different testing thresholds.