Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has ended for the evening.
A baffling condition called Multi-Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) started showing up in kids about three weeks after the peak of the coronavirus pandemic passed through, a team at a large New York health system reported Monday.
The team at Northwell Health reported on 33 cases of the syndrome, which many doctors believe is some sort of delayed response to a coronavirus infection.
All 33 children recovered with treatment, the team reported in the Journal of Pediatrics. Dr. Charles Schleien, who chairs the pediatrics department at Northwell’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, said doctors were at first mystified by what was happening.
The flow of affected children peaked about five weeks after Covid-19 hit New York City and the surrounding areas hard, Schleien and colleagues reported in the Journal of Pediatrics. “These are families I am sure thought they were off the hook,” Schleien said.
Many showed up in shock, with plummeting blood pressure that required immediate treatment.
“We treated these kids as they were coming in having no idea what it was,” Schleien added. As many other medical centers have reported, the symptoms at first looked like Kawasaki Disease, a rare syndrome that usually affects very young children.
“We treated them as though they had Kawasaki Disease despite the age range,” Schleien said. The children with MIS-C ranged in age from 2 to 17. Almost all had gastrointestinal pain and diarrhea, the team reported.
They also had clear evidence of inflammation as shown on blood tests, and 79% of them required intensive care. All tested positive for coronavirus. Schleien said the team excluded a handful of other children who did not test positive. Other teams have reported that MIS-C patients had no symptoms of infection before, but that most of them later tested positive for antibodies to coronavirus, indicating a past infection.
All got treatment of some sort, including aspirin and intravenous immune globulin (IVIG), a standard Kawasaki treatment. Some also got the antiviral remdesivir or strong anti-inflammatory medications normally used to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
All recovered and Schleien said he does not know which treatments helped or hurt. Some may have heart damage.
“They are all going to be seeing cardiologists for a while yet,” Schleien said.
He said parents and pediatricians need to make sure that any children with lasting fevers and diarrhea get examined right away.
A closely watched model that predicts Covid-19 deaths is now forecasting there will be more than 201,000 deaths in the United States by October 1.
The projections continue to show that the fall is going to be difficult, with a sharp rise in daily deaths forecast in September and October.
Last week, the model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, predicted 170,000 deaths for this same time period. The model was often cited by the White House early in the pandemic and is one of 19 models currently featured on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
As of today, the model projects that 201,129 people will die from Covid-19 in the US by October 1, with a possible range of 171,551 to 269,395 deaths. Ali Mokdad, one of the model’s creators, said they’ve raised the number of projected deaths for two reasons.
Daily deaths are expected to decrease through June and July and remain relatively stable through August, but the model forecasts a sharp rise in deaths through September.
In the model, projected daily deaths nearly double from 743 on September 1 to 1,241 on October 1. The model’s uncertainty does increase the farther out it projects in time.
To make the model, analysts use cell phone data to show people’s increased mobility. As people move around, they have a higher chance of coming into contact with someone who is sick, but it isn’t entirely clear exactly how mobility corresponds with infections. Wearing a mask and physical distancing can reduce the rate of disease transmission.
IHME has also said that it looks at other factors in making the model, including the numbers of people who wear masks, air pollution figures, testing, pneumonia trends and population density, among other factors.
The IHME model has been criticized for some of its assumptions and predictions. At one point, it projected that deaths would stop in the summer, many experts at the time called that unrealistic. Since then, IHME has revised its methodology.
Mokdad said that it is important for people to remember to remain cautious about interacting with others.
“We all need to wear our masks and stay away from each other to reduce the circulation and to be in a better place at the beginning of the second wave,” Mokdad said.
The National Institutes of Health has launched a national database to collect medical information on coronavirus patients in the United States.
“This effort aims to transform clinical information into knowledge urgently needed to study COVID-19, including health risk factors that indicate better or worse outcomes of the disease, and identify potentially effective treatments,” the agency said in a statement Monday.
The NIH said the platform data will include clinical, laboratory and diagnostic information from hospitals, labs and other health care providers
The database will help researchers and health care providers answer critical questions relating to Covid-19 illness — for example who might need kidney dialysis, who may need a ventilator or what kinds of therapies a particular patient may need.
“By leveraging our collective data resources, unparalleled analytics expertise, and medical insights from expert clinicians, we can catalyze discoveries that address this pandemic that none of us could enable alone,” said Melissa Haendel, the director of the National Center for Data to Health (CD2H) at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.
The NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, which is paying for the new database, said it should help address future pandemics, too.
The agency said that the only identifying data on the platform will include the zip code of the health care group providing the information and the dates of service. No other personal patient information will appear on the site. Only approved users will be able to access the site and they can only study the information while on the platform and only for Covid-19 research and public health surveillance, the NIH said.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Monday new safer-at-home guidelines, which will go into effect on June 18.
Residential summer camps can reopen, allowing only 10 children indoors and 25 children outdoors.
Indoor events, including museums, receptions and conferences, can also start to open.
Meanwhile, restaurants, houses of worship and bars will be able to open with 25% capacity or up to 50 people.
Non-critical manufacturing facilities can allow in-person workforce.
United Airlines says that starting Thursday, passengers who do not wear a mask in flight will be banned — at least temporarily — from flying with the carrier, pending a “comprehensive incident review” and subject to some exceptions.
Flight attendants will warn passengers who don’t comply and offer them a mask. If further de-escalation is unsuccessful, the flight attendant will file a report after the flight reaches its destination. After a review, the passenger could be placed on an “internal travel restriction list” and unable to fly “for a duration of time to be determined.”
United sent out an internal memo to employees on Monday evening laying out the new guidelines, ratcheted up from an initial pandemic policy of keeping passengers who refuse masks from boarding and flight attendants “strongly encouraging” passengers to wear masks in flight.
The world’s third largest airline says passengers who are eating or drinking do not need to wear a mask as well as those with certain medical conditions or small children.
The Brazilian health ministry reported at least 20,647 new cases of novel coronavirus on Monday, bringing the country’s total to at least 888,271.
Brazil also recorded at least 627 new Covid-19 deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death toll to at least 43,959, according to the health ministry.
Monday also marks one month that Brazil has been without a health minister. The ministry has been led on an interim basis following the May 15 resignation of Nelson Teich.
Since Teich’s resignation, Brazil’s health ministry has been led by Eduardo Pazuello, an army general and the former executive secretary of the ministry. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree making Pazuello’s role as interim minister official on June 2.
Teich’s resignation in May was the second departure of a Brazilian health minister during the Covid-19 outbreak following Bolsonaro’s firing of Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, in April.
How Rio de Janeiro’s favelas are trying to stop coronavirus spread:
Major US airlines announced they intend to more strictly enforce mask wearing aboard their planes, including potentially banning passengers who refuse to wear a mask.
The announcement comes in lieu of a federal regulation requiring all passengers to wear masks – the sort of enforceable measure that governs requirements to wear seatbelts and not smoke.
Seven major airlines – including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines – pledged to roll out new policies requiring masks, enforced with a penalty as severe as a ban on flying with that particular airline.
The lack of federal action has driven the airlines to act, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The airlines are expected to lay out specific policies as well as enforcement procedures for crewmembers to follow in the coming days, the source said.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler tweeted Monday that he is extending stay home orders to August 15, as the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations increase statewide.
Texas reported on Monday a record high number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. At least 2,326 people have been hospitalized.
There have been at least 89,108 cases of Covid-19, and at least 1,983 deaths in the state.
CNN’s Ashley Killough contributed to this post.
In an interview that aired on ESPN, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was asked Monday if he was confident that there will be a 2020 MLB season.
“I’m not confident,” Manfred said. “I think there’s real risk. As long as there’s no dialogue, that real risk is going to continue.”
During the weekend, both MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) traded statements, with the union saying that further dialogue between the two parties “would be futile,” while MLB said, “We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play…”
“I know the owners are a 100% committed to getting baseball on the field,” Manfred told ESPN on Monday. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that I’m 100% certain that’s going to happen.”
On Wednesday, Manfred told ESPN that he was “100%” sure that there would be a season saying at that time, “I can tell you, unequivocally, we are going to play Major League Baseball this year.”
MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark later issued this statement in response to the MLB:
The US Food and Drug Administration warned against giving a controversial drug to patients who are also getting the one drug that has any authorization for use in treating coronavirus.
Mixing remdesivir and either chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine could reduce the effectiveness of remdesivir, the FDA warned. Earlier on Monday, the FDA removed the emergency use authorization it had given the two malaria drugs, leaving remdesivir as the only drug that has the authorization for Covid-19.
“The agency is not aware of instances of this reduced activity occurring in the clinical setting but is continuing to evaluate all data related to remdesivir,” the FDA said.
More on this: Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were touted by President Trump as good drugs to take to treat coronavirus, and he said last month that he himself was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection.
Several studies have shown not only that the drugs do not help patients with Covid-19, but they might raise the risk of serious side-effects.
On Monday, the FDA said the drugs do not meet “the statutory criteria” for emergency use authorization as they are unlikely to be effective in treating Covid-19 based on the latest scientific evidence.
Remdesivir is an infused antiviral drug made by Gilead Sciences Inc.
Researchers at Imperial College London will begin human trials of a UK government-funded Covid-19 vaccine this week, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement.
Beginning this week, 300 healthy human participants between the ages of 18 and 70 will receive two doses of the vaccine. The vaccine was already shown to be safe and effective in animal trials and “has undergone rigorous pre-clinical safety tests,” according to the government statement.
The vaccine involves a “new approach” that uses synthetic strands of genetic code, called RNA, which are based on the virus’ genetic material. When injected, the vaccine prompts a person’s muscle cells to produce virus proteins.
“The trials will be the first test of a new self-amplifying RNA technology, which has the potential to revolutionise vaccine development and enable scientists to respond more quickly to emerging diseases,” the statement said.
The UK government has contributed $51.4 million (41 million pounds) towards the Imperial College London vaccine development, and another $6.3 million (5 million pounds) has been donated by members of the public.
Oxford University is also working on a vaccine in partnership with UK-based global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. In May, Oxford University announced that their vaccine research moved to the second phase of human trials, which involves 10,260 participants, including a small number of older adults and children.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed three executive orders protecting businesses from liability if a customer or employee is exposed to coronavirus.
A reporter asked Hutchinson if he was concerned that he was sending mixed messages to the public.
Arkansas reported at least 12,917 cases of Covid-19 and at least 182 deaths since the pandemic began, according to Dr. Jose Romero, Interim Secretary of Health with the state’s Department Health.
According to the Department of Health, there were 416 new Covid-19 cases in the state within the last 24 hours.
On Friday, Arkansas reported 731 new positive cases of coronavirus, the largest spike since the pandemic began.
“I hope we don’t repeat (that number),” Hutchinson said Monday.
There are at least 2,107,632 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 116,029 people have died, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 13,574 new cases and 297 deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Bars and breweries in Chicago will reopen on Wednesday, the city announced Monday.
“Beginning Wednesday, June 17, bars, lounges, taverns, breweries and other drinking establishments that sell alcohol for on-site consumption without a Retail Food License will be able to open for outdoor service only,” the city said in a statement.
The Lakefront Trail will open daily east of Lake Shore Drive for limited hours; however, beaches and parks east of Lake Shore Drive will remain closed, according to the statement.
The Women’s National Basketball Association has announced plans to begin a shortened 2020 season in late July.
The season will be played entirely at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Instead of the previously scheduled 36 games, each of the league’s 12 teams will play 22 regular season games, followed by the traditional postseason format.
The WNBA announced that players will still receive full salaries and benefits, despite the abbreviated schedule and the fact that the season will be played without fans in attendance. The WNBA also committed to making social justice initiatives a focus during the season.
US stocks ended in the green on Monday, following a roller coaster of a trading day.
Stocks fell sharply at the opening bell as investors were spooked by a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the US, as well as in China.
But the market soon recovered. Action from the Federal Reserve helped boost sentiment: The central bank finally launched its Main Street Lending Program to help small and medium-sized businesses, and it also committed to buying corporate bonds.
Here’s what happened today:
The Red Cross will now be testing all blood, plasma and platelet donations for Covid-19 antibodies, according to a press release issued Monday.
Regardless of whether a donor experienced symptoms or not, the test will show whether their immune system has produced the antibodies for the coronavirus.
The antibody test, which has been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration, does not diagnose donors with a current infection.
The Red Cross hopes these tests will increase interest in blood donation.
Donors can expect results within seven to ten days either on the Red Cross Blood Donor App or website.
“As a humanitarian organization and member of the broader health community, the Red Cross has adapted our services to help meet the needs of this extraordinary time,” said Chris Hrouda, president of The Red Cross Biomedical Services, in the press release.
Even though many blood drives continue to be canceled for precautionary reasons, blood donations remain vital, as surgeries and treatments that had been temporarily paused start to take place again.
Rhode Island’s in-person summer camps will be allowed to resume on June 29, according to Gov. Gina Raimondo. That includes some sleep-away options, she said.
The governor also announced today the number of positive Covid-19 cases increased by 32 for a total of at least 16,093. Deaths increased by six for a total of at least 851. The state is currently in phase two of its reopening plan.
Film’s biggest night is being rescheduled for the first time in 40 years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday that the 93rd Oscars will no longer take place on February 28 as planned.
Instead, the board of governors said the show will take place on April 25, 2021.
In addition to the delay, the Academy agreed to extend the eligibility window for films, which usually corresponds to the calendar year. For the 2021 Oscars, the new window will be extended until February 28, 2021.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called on Apple and Google today to prohibit third-party contact tracing apps from abusing consumers’ data.
In letters to the two companies, James said that contact tracing apps created by third parties do not appear to be held to the same standard as apps that work in conjunction with Apple and Google’s own Bluetooth-based Exposure Notification protocol, which must be designed under strict specifications.
James urged the companies to take concrete steps to safeguard the data gathered by third-party contact tracing apps, including by requiring apps to disclose whether they participate in the exposure notification program and barring them from using targeted advertising.
South Carolina Rep. Tom Rice announced on Facebook that he is recovering from coronavirus after he and his family contracted it recently.
Rice said his case has been mild, with symptoms including a low fever and mild cough.
“I never stopped eating or drinking or working or moving,” he wrote. “The only bad thing is I have completely lost sense of taste and smell. CAN’T TASTE BACON!!!”
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said the campaign will conduct temperature checks and give out face masks and hand sanitizer at the President’s upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Tulsa health officials express skepticism over whether this is the right time for a large campaign event.
“I saw the campaign tweeted out they’ve got about a million RSVPs, that’s quite extraordinary,” Conway said at the White House Monday. “And that they’re doing temperature checks, giving everybody a face mask, and hand sanitizer.”
“It sounds like the campaign is taking steps that comport with what the CDC has said, and possibly even Tulsa, or state of Oklahoma guidelines,” she continued. “I’d have to look at that, see what phase they’re in. They’re pretty well along there in Oklahoma.”
Conway called those decisions “good,” and “a recognition that there are guidelines in place that should be followed.”
“We certainly hope that the people in Oklahoma will adhere to all the reasonable guidelines,” she added.
Some context: Earlier Monday, Principal Deputy Communications Director for the Trump campaign Erin Perrine told Fox Business that “the campaign takes the safety and health of the American people very seriously,” and would be “taking precautions to make this a safe rally for rallygoers.”
CNN reported Sunday the director of the Tulsa Health Department said he wishes President Trump would postpone his planned campaign rally set to take place there on Saturday, citing concerns about a significant increase in local cases of Covid-19.
In an interview with the local newspaper, Tulsa World, Dr. Bruce Dart said, “I wish we could postpone this to a time when the virus isn’t as large a concern as it is today.”
The city’s health department on Friday said it recorded its highest daily increase of coronavirus cases to date.
Trump on not postponing Tulsa rally: There won’t be an empty seat
The 2020 US Open of Surfing has been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, tournament organizers announced Monday.
The annual event was to have taken place in early August at Huntington Beach, California. Tournament organizers vow the event will return in 2021.
Several Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans players have tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.
According to the report, none of the players were in the teams’ facilities and both teams followed proper health protocols.
The Cowboys tell CNN in a statement on Monday, “Due to federal and local privacy laws, we are unable to provide information regarding the personal health of any of our employees.”
CNN has reached out to the Texans and the NFL for confirmation.
The World Health Organization is still reviewing the use of hydroxychloroquine in its Solidarity Trial, a multi-country clinical study of Covid-19 treatment options.
Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said during a briefing in Geneva on Monday that the executive group reviewing the Solidarity Trial is meeting this week.
“We’ll come back to you on Wednesday with an update on those deliberations and where we go from here,” Ryan said.
During Monday’s briefing, WHO officials were asked about their hydroxychloroquine study in wake of the US Food and Drug Administration pulling its emergency use authorization for the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19.
In May, WHO temporarily paused the hydroxychloroquine arms of its Solidarity Trial due to concerns surrounding the drug’s safety and in order to review its own data. Then earlier this month, after that review, WHO announced that it would resume studying hydroxychloroquine as a potential Covid-19 treatment in the trial.
Yet in the days following, a separate trial in the United Kingdom, called the Recovery Trial, announced plans to stop using hydroxychloroquine in its study due to there being “no evidence of benefit,” according to the researchers. That spurred WHO to conduct another review of the hydroxychloroquine arm in its Solidarity Trial, which is still underway.
Vermont’s Gov. Phil Scott extended the state’s Covid-19 emergency order to July 15.
Scott explained the order is just a vehicle to manage their response and to help “lift things when the time is right.”
He explained if data continues to show the state is moving in the right direction, the openings will continue.
Vermont’s Commissioner of Health, Dr. Mark Levine, addressed the recent outbreak in Winooski and Burlington. He said he thinks they are doing a nice job with containment, but, “I want to look at targeted testing this week, in both Burlington and Winooski, before I put closure to the outbreak.”
Scott noted that campgrounds will be open today at 100% capacity, up from 50% capacity.
Officials in West Virginia are monitoring a Covid-19 cluster tied to a Lewisburg-area church, according to Gov. Jim Justice.
Justice said at least 28 people associated with Graystone Baptist Church have tested positive.
The National Guard arrived to decontaminate the church on Sunday, and additional testing has also been added in the area, according to Justice.
The World Health Organization called a coronavirus cluster of more than 100 cases in Beijing a “significant event.”
Speaking during a briefing on Monday, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said, “In China, when you spend over 50 days without having any significant local transmission the cluster like this is a concern, and it needs to be investigated and controlled.”
“We’re always concerned for clusters,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist.
Van Kerkhove said every single case needs to be addressed, “but clusters are a special condition, because in any country we need to understand why is there the clustering?”
Ryan said now is the time to investigate what’s driving the new infections. “It’s important for us to hypothesize. It’s important for us to make models about what might be happening. But the answer is lay in careful, careful, systematic, exhaustive investigation of disease clusters, to really look at what is happening in these situations,” he said.
“If we get that, we will build up a much better picture of the public health advice we need to give our communities — on what behaviors to avoid, and what places to avoid, and what circumstances to avoid,” Ryan added.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed on Monday that the United States is still among WHO’s member states.
“Yes, the United States is still a member of the — a member state — of the World Health Organization,” Tedros said when asked about the relationship during a briefing in Geneva on Monday.
Why this matters: President Trump announced plans in May to terminate the United States’ relationship with WHO, including pulling funding.
Last week, Tedros said during a media briefing that WHO’s relationship with the United States is “not about the money” but rather “working together” on efforts to improve public health.
The World Health Organization said today that “influenza surveillance has either been suspended or is declining in many countries” during the global coronavirus pandemic – and that could have dangerous repercussions.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that flu season has already begun in the Southern Hemisphere, and “co-circulation of Covid-19 and influenza can worsen the impact on health care systems that are already overwhelmed.”
Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said there must be a “balance to ensure that we’re also able to track influenza property during that same period.”
“We’re now entering a period in the world, where we have to be able to track both Covid-19 and influenza,” he added.
The US Food and Drug Administration has revoked its emergency use authorization for the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19.
After reviewing the current research available on the drugs, the FDA determined that the drugs do not meet “the statutory criteria” for emergency use authorization as they are unlikely to be effective in treating Covid-19 based on the latest scientific evidence, the agency noted on its website on Monday.
“Accordingly, FDA revokes the EUA for emergency use of HCQ and CQ to treat COVID-19,” Hinton wrote in the letter. “As of the date of this letter, the oral formulations of HCQ and CQ are no longer authorized by FDA to treat COVID-19.”
The FDA’s emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine was narrow in scope, applying only to hospitalized Covid-19 patients and only to drugs donated to the Strategic National Stockpile.
In an open letter published late last month, FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn appeared to defend the agency’s decision to issue the authorization.
“This decision was based on evaluation of the EUA criteria and the scientific evidence available at that time. We continue to look at the data on hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine and we will make future determinations on these products based on available evidence including ongoing clinical studies,” Hahn said in the letter last month.
The emergency use authorization, or EUA, made it easier for pills donated to the national stockpile to be distributed to coronavirus patients.
Hahn added in the letter that “we also knew it was important to help ensure a stable supply of the drugs for patients with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis given the increased demand.”
In an interview with CNN last month, Hahn also defended his agency’s handling of hydroxychloroquine. He acknowledged the political climate surrounding the drug, but said, “I stand by our decisions because I think they are rooted in science and data, and we’ll continue to reevaluate.”
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told CNN Monday that he would consider reinstating restrictions or imposing new rules, like requiring people to wear masks all the time, not just inside, if Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
“We need to be cautious,” the mayor told CNN, especially since the impact of the protests have not been fully revealed.
Gelber went on to say that he concerned about the number of Covid-19-related hospitalizations, which he said have increased slightly in his city.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported Monday the lowest number of hospitalizations since the Covid crisis started in the state – “amen,” the governor said.
He also said the state hit the lowest number of deaths on the three-day average since this has started.
“We’d love to see that number at zero,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that New York may never get to it because, at this point, it’s contingent on doctors determining the cause of death amid possible other co-morbidities.
Based on new data, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo modified rules for regions in phase 3 of Covid-19 reopening, allowing gatherings of up to 25 people, which is up from 10.
Western New York will enter Phase 3 on Tuesday, he said.
With regards to Covid-19 recovery, Cuomo said, “New York is on the right track.”
Iceland began a cautious process of reopening to international travelers on Monday.
Starting Monday, passengers arriving in Iceland will be able to be tested for Covid-19 on arrival, as an alternative to the previously mandatory 14-day quarantine. Children born in 2005 or later will be exempt from testing.
How this works: A CNN team traveling to Keflavík International Airport on Monday filled out a short electronic form before departing for Iceland. On arrival, the team presented an associated barcode, and were brought to one of around ten curtained testing booths.
A medical assistant took two samples, one from the throat and one from the nose, and sent them off for evaluation.
The entire process took less than five minutes. Until July, the test will be free to passengers; thereafter, it will cost 15,000 Krona, or around $110.
The CNN team was able to depart the airport immediately. The government advises that those arriving do not need to quarantine while they await results, but “should take preventive measures to protect themselves and others from infection.” The Icelandic government has promised results within a day. Those testing negative will receive a text message; a positive result will get a phone call and 14 days of quarantine.
The numbers: Thanks in part to an early and extremely aggressive system of track and trace, Iceland has been able to keep total deaths from Covid-19 to just ten, according to the Icelandic Directorate of Health. Masks are nearly entirely absent in downtown Reykjavik, and restaurants are open as normal. As of Monday, there were just four patients positive for the virus. Nearly 2,000 have recovered.
Tourism has become incredibly important to the Icelandic economy; it grew from just 4.8% of GDP in 2007 to 8.6% in 2017. Prime Minsiter Katrín Jakobsdóttir, speaking with Christiane Amanpour last month, said that “obviously the economic crisis is going to be deep,” but that she hoped the border measures might alleviate some of the pain.
Norway’s public health body (FHI) has suspended the use of its coronavirus contact-tracing app following an order by the country’s data protection authority over the collection and use of users’ location data. The FHI has also deleted all information collected so far by the app.
The Norwegian privacy regulator Datailsynet expressed concerns with the way the app, called Smittestopp, collected both GPS location data and Bluetooth data from users. Its assessment said the app “can no longer be regarded as a proportionate intervention on users’ basic privacy rights.”
In a statement, the watchdog said “we believe that FHI has not demonstrated that it is strictly necessary to use location data for infection detection” and recommended that the app only used data collected via Bluetooth instead, pointing out “EU countries have developed infection tracking apps based only on Bluetooth technology, and not GPS location data as well.”
What the numbers say: According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been 8,639 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 242 deaths in Norway.
The app was being tested in three regions of the country, but as the rate of infection in those areas is low, the health authority had said last week it was difficult to test whether the Smittestopp app was notifying “those who may actually have been exposed to infection”.
The watchdog also questioned the “lack of freedom of choice for users” signing up to the app.
According to Datailsynet, the data required for tracking infections was also being used for analysis and research, which the regulator said are two different purposes and requires “different personal information.”
There were also concerns raised about how data collected remained anonymous. “A solution for anonymization and aggregation of data for analysis is also not in place,” said Bjørn Erik Thon, Director of Datailsynet in a statement. “Still, the app continuously collects personal information from all users,” added Thon.
The FHI disagreed with the assessment of the regulator.
In a statement FHI Director Camilla Stoltenberg said that suspending the app would weaken “an important part of our preparedness for increased spread of infection, because we are losing time in developing and testing the app.” Stoltenberg warned that the pandemic is not over, adding “without the Smittestopp app, we would be poorly equipped to prevent new outbreaks that may occur locally or nationally.”
Stoltenberg added: “We hope it will be possible to find a solution so that infection notification and analysis of infection control measures can be introduced in the long term.”
The FHI has until the June 23 to remedy the issues raised by the regulator.
Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety (CFS) has taken salmon samples from import and wholesale levels for testing as a precaution following a coronavirus outbreak at a wholesale market in China, according to a Hong Kong government press release.
A cluster of coronavirus cases emerged in Beijing, which have been linked to Xinfadi wholesale food market in the Chinese capital. In addition to seafood, the agricultural wholesale market sells meat, fruits and vegetables.
A market official told state media Friday that traces of the virus were found in multiple environmental samples taken from the market, including chopping boards used to chop imported salmon, prompting supermarkets and restaurants in the city to pull the fish off of their shelves and menus. The market was shut on Saturday.
According to the press release, CFS said in light of “recent media reports that the novel coronavirus was detected on chopping boards used for cutting salmon during a COVID-19 case investigation in Beijing, the CFS has taken immediate follow-up action to understand the incident.”
CFS also reminded the public to maintain personal, food and environmental hygiene at all times, and to thoroughly cook food, according to the press statement.
The statement cited a CFS spokesperson saying, “According to current scientific information, there is no evidence indicating that human can be infected by the novel coronavirus via food (including aquatic products).”
The spokesperson went on to say, “In addition, the World Health Organization and global food safety assessment authorities consider that it is unlikely that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted to human via food. Nevertheless, given that raw or undercooked aquatic products are high-risk, if they are uncooked or underheated, consumption of food contaminated with bacteria or viruses may cause food poisoning. For the sake of prudence, the CFS has taken samples of imported salmon for testing as a precautionary measure.”
Xinfadi market makes up about 80% of Beijing’s entire farm produce supply, and 18,00 tons of vegetables and 20,000 tons of fruits are at the market every day, according to Chinese state-run media organization CGTN.
President Trump noted in a public message on Monday that the coronavirus pandemic poses a significant risk for men, adding that men are less likely than women to seek care for health concerns.
The address was made in recognition of Men’s Health Week, the week leading up to Father’s Day.
“Accordingly, it is critical that men who show symptoms of the coronavirus, including shortness of breath, cough, fever, aches, or chills, immediately contact their doctor or healthcare provider. Doing so will ensure that they receive the care they need and help prevent the spread of this disease,” Trump said in part.
Trump added that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has enhanced access to health care and treatment services for all health conditions, including mental illness, while also reducing the likelihood of transmission of diseases like coronavirus by expanding telehealth coverage for the duration of this public health emergency.
This presidential message comes at a time when Trump has been planning a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma — despite concerns about social distancing — and he has not been wearing a mask during public speeches and press conferences.
What the research says: Researchers have noted that more men appear to be dying from Covid-19 than women during the pandemic. A CNN analysis earlier this year found that in the countries for which data was available — spanning nearly a quarter of the world’s population — men were 50% more likely than women to die after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said he would advise against attending large political rallies.
Gottlieb also said that as we are taking many infections with us heading into fall, that the government and the Trump administration should be setting an example by encouraging people to wear masks and social distance.
Setting this example would be “a powerful message to individual people across the country,” he said.
Gottlieb agreed with comments made by White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx about the use of masks at nationwide protests being less effective due to things like shouting, saying that he had seen data that supported this.
“Obviously the risk is a little bit diminished when you’re outside versus indoors, but we know these large gatherings are going to lead to more spread,” Gottlieb said.
However, while there are things that can be done to reduce the risks, this is a shared responsibility for everyone.
Weeks after lifting stay-at-home orders, some states are seeing record numbers of hospitalizations from Covid-19 as thousands more Americans get infected every day.
As of Saturday, coronavirus cases were still increasing in 18 states — several of which saw record or near-record highs.
The map below shows how states’ coronavirus numbers last week compare to the previous week.
Remember: Some states may see their number of new cases rise simply because they’re testing more people.
stocks nosedived at Monday’s opening bell, as investors continue to worry about a potential second wave of coronavirus infections. Increasing case numbers in some reopened states as well as in Beijing, aren’t helping sentiment.
Here’s what happened at today’s opening:
Shutting down businesses for not following social distancing practices have to be left “on the table as a consideration,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told NBC News Monday morning.
“You have to leave that on the table as a consideration. I hope to god we don’t have to,” he said on the “Today” show.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, warned in a press conference Sunday that high violations of Covid-19 restrictions could cause the state to roll back its reopening.
About 25,000 complaints have been filed against businesses across New York – mainly in Manhattan and the Hamptons – for violating that state’s reopening plan.
“If we have a high number of violations of the policy which is tantamount to a high likelihood of the spread of the virus, and the local governments are not monitoring policing, doing the compliance, yes there is a very real possibility that we would roll back the reopening in those areas. The only alternative would be to pause the entire reopening,” Cuomo said.
The novel coronavirus has infected almost 8 million people worldwide, and killed more than 433,000. Here’s what you need to know about the spread of Covid-19:
China races to contain new outbreak: Beijing officials are attempting to track down 200,000 people after a fresh outbreak of cases linked to a wholesale seafood market.
England’s stores reopen: Shoppers formed long, socially-distanced queues outside retail outlets across the country as the UK eases lockdown restrictions.
Global stocks plummet: Markets plunged as the US and China grappled with fresh outbreaks. Dow futures fell by 3.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.8%, closing out its worst day since March.
Germany lifts travel warning: The country eased restrictions for citizens travelling to 27 nations in continental Europe. Spain is not yet included in the list, but some German tourists can now travel to the popular Balearic island of Mallorca.
Guatemala’s cases surge: The country has declared a state of “maximum alert” in four administrative regions. The restrictions in place include full-day curfews on Sundays. The country has recorded at least 9,845 cases of the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a man to two weeks in prison for breaching a compulsory quarantine order.
The 38-year-old had arrived in the territory after traveling abroad earlier this year. He was issued with the quarantine order upon arrival, instructing him to stay at home for 14 days.
But he was caught attempting to travel through the Shenzhen Bay Control Point into mainland China on March 7.
Hong Kong has recorded 1,109 cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Health officials in Beijing are working to trace around 200,000 people who visited a wholesale seafood market which is at the centre of a major coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese capital.
The city has reported more than 79 new coronavirus cases since last Thursday, most of which are linked to the Xinfadi food market.
Authorities are trying to trace all those who have visited the site since May 30. The market is a key source of food supplies in the city, and has been shut down in the aftermath of the outbreak.
At least 11 neighborhoods surrounding the area have also been sealed off.
Xinfadi market makes up about 80% of Beijing’s entire farm produce supply. Some 18,000 tons of vegetables and 20,000 tons of fruit are at the market every day, according to Chinese state-run media organization CGTN.
Wang Hongcun, a Beijing city government official, said authorities were working to guarantee food supplies for the city in the wake of the market’s closure.
China said on Monday that it was in close communications with the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the latest outbreak.
Zhao said he did not have any information on whether Chinese health officials have shared the gene sequencing from the latest cluster of cases in Beijing with the WHO.
The data official behind Florida’s Covid-19 dashboard says she has launched her own dashboard after being removed from the state’s project.
Rebekah Jones was removed from the state’s scrutinized dashboard project after she questioned other officials’ commitment to accessibility and transparency, according to Florida Today.
Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis contested Jones’ claims. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) said she had “exhibited a repeated course of insubordination” during her tenure there.
Jones’s website floridacovidaction.com “is paid for entirely by donations,” the fundraising portion of the site says. “Florida deserves a community based dashboard that doesn’t hide or fudge numbers,” the page says.
Jones’ dashboard looks very similar to the DOH website.
However, Jones parallels her data alongside DOH’s coronavirus numbers, which are much lower, according to the website.
Read more:
BP is writing down the value of its assets by as much as $17.5 billion as a shift away from fossil fuels is accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The UK oil company said in a statement Monday that the health crisis could have an “enduring impact on the global economy,” resulting in less demand for energy over a “sustained period.”
It cut its assumed average price for Brent crude from 2021 to 2050 by 27%, to $55 per barrel.
As a result of the changes, BP said it would take a writedown of up to $17.5 billion in the second quarter – roughly 6% of its total assets. The company may also stop developing some oil and gas fields as it invests in cleaner energy.
Read more here.
A return to normalcy following the Covid-19 pandemic could come within a year, but people need to tamp down their expectations regarding typical summer travel and activities, Dr. Anthony Fauci told British newspaper The Telegraph in a story published Sunday.
Fauci is the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
The latest timing estimate came after a week that saw the case count in the US pass 2 million. Cases have increased in 18 states over the past week, with six states reporting more than a 50% jump. This has led some government and health officials to hit pause on reopening efforts.
More than 115,000 people have died in the United States as of early Monday morning, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Read more here.
Shoppers in England lined up outside stores across the country on Monday, as many non-essential retail outlets opened for the first time since March.
People formed long, socially-distanced queues outside businesses in Oxford Street, one of London’s most popular shopping districts.
From Monday, retailers are allowed to open if they comply with the government’s coronavirus-secure guidelines, which require customers to shop while keeping 2m apart. Changing rooms in clothes stores remain closed.
CNN’s Anna Stewart said many of those she had spoken to outside the Apple Store on London’s Regent Street were seeking repairs or returns, rather than shopping for new products.
Businesses are bracing for dramatically lower footfall than before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Bars, restaurants and pubs remain closed across the UK.
The UK has recorded more than 297,000 cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University, making it the worst affected country in Europe.
WATCH:
England is the latest in a long list of countries to make mask wearing mandatory to slow down the spread of Covid-19, with face coverings compulsory on public transport starting Monday.
Many more of us are opting to wear a mask while shopping, when meeting friends and to attend medical appointments — even if it’s not required.
But how does wearing a mask shape how we interact or communicate with others?
A smile is an easy way to defuse social tensions, but is this still possible when a mask is covering the bottom half of our face? And will the emotions of the people we encounter be harder to decode?
CNN spoke to communications expert Ursula Hess, a psychologist and professor at Humboldt University of Berlin, who says it’s wrong to assume masks will make it harder for us to interact.
Read more here.
The rapid transition to online school — for those who hadn’t made that choice themselves — has come with many downsides, from increasing inequality to the “Covid slide,” which has seen children lose some of this year’s learning, becoming less prepared to advance.
But after millions of schoolchildren suddenly transferred to cyber school, some are finding a surprising upside: Complicated social dynamics can simplify, sometimes evaporate, as they learn online.
One reason: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. “Kids are craving their peers and they’re missing people they weren’t even that close with before,” Graber said.
Read more here.
Global stocks plunged Monday as the United States and China grappled with new coronavirus outbreaks, signaling that the pandemic isn’t done wreaking havoc on the global economy.
Markets across Asia also recorded steep declines, after Beijing recorded a fresh cluster of cases of the virus, originating in the city’s largest wholesale food market.
China reported concerning economic data, suggesting that the recovery in the world’s second largest economy is progressing slowly.
And European markets broadly declined at open.
Read more here:
It’s an outcome no one wants, but could become a “harsh reality”: a second wave of shutdowns.
Weeks after lifting stay-at-home orders, some US states are seeing record numbers of hospitalizations from Covid-19 as thousands more Americans get infected every day.
“We’re going to have to face the harsh reality in some states that we may need to shut down again,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine.
And the second wave of state shutdowns could be more damaging than the first.
How Americans can prevent another round of shutdowns:
While states try to revive the economy, the fate of this pandemic is largely up to individuals.
“People must observe the safety guidelines,” top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said.
“Social distancing must be observed. Face coverings in key places must be observed.”
Read the full story:
Germany recorded 192 new coronavirus cases and four deaths on Sunday, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the national agency for disease control and prevention.
The total number of confirmed cases in Germany now stands at 186,461 including 8,791 deaths, the institute said.
Germany has lifted its travel warning for 27 countries in continental Europe.
Spain is not included in the list, but some German tourists can now travel to the popular Balearic island of Mallorca.
Frankfurt airport this morning remained quiet, however. Only two flights are leaving for Palma de Mallorca today the departure display showed, according to CNN affiliate n-tv.
Spain’s Balearic Islands are set to see 10,900 German visitors in the second half of June in a “pilot project” to test tourism safety measures during the pandemic, the Balearic regional president said.
The project starts on June 15 – two weeks before the rest of Spain reopens for tourism – and includes the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera.
Guatemala has declared a state of “maximum alert” in four administrative regions, the country’s President Alejandro Giammattei announced Sunday.
The alerts went into effect in the regions – called departments – of Guatemala, El Progreso, Sacatepéquez and San Marcos. It comes in response to the increase in coronavirus cases in those particular areas, the President said in an address to the nation.
The new measures will last for 15 days and include full-day curfews on Sundays, and from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. the rest of the week. Vehicles with odd and even number plates are only allowed to drive on alternate days.
The entire country has been on a state of “high alert” since February 25.
Guatemala has so far registered 384 coronavirus-related deaths, with 9,845 people infected with the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
More than 7.9 million cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, including at least 433,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest developments.
Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city’s largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak.
The Chinese capital reported 36 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 79 since a locally transmitted infection was reported on June 12 for the first time in nearly two months.
Read the full story:
Japan’s health ministry recorded 62 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Sunday.
The total number of infections reported in Japan stands at 18,214, with 712 of those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The official death toll is 938, with 13 of those deaths from the cruise ship.
In Tokyo, 47 new infections were recorded on Sunday in the largest single-day increase in the capital since May 5.
That number includes 18 cases linked to the nightlife entertainment area in Shinjuku district.
South Korea reported 37 new coronavirus cases on Sunday and no new deaths, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The total number of reported cases in the country stands at 12,121 and there are more than 1,100 patients in active quarantine.
Of the 37 new cases, 24 are locally transmitted. Of those, 22 occurred in the capital Seoul
Despite strengthened infection prevention measures, the average number of daily cases from the Seoul Metropolitan area increased from 20.4 cases during the period May 17 to May 30, to 36.5 average cases during May 31 to June 13.
The UK is taking a tentative step in its slow emergence from coronavirus lockdown. As of Monday, lockdown measures will be eased in England, allowing non-essential shops to reopen along with some public spaces like zoos and theme parks.
It’s impossible to overstate how important it is for Prime Minister Boris Johnson that this goes well after a painful few weeks.
His pandemic response has been attacked across the political spectrum, as has his handling of recent Black Lives Matter protests across the country, with critics accusing Johnson of using language that enflames racial division, leading ultimately to ugly scenes as far-right extremist groups took part in violent counter-protests at the weekend. So, from the government’s perspective, this easing of lockdown must not end in disaster.
The worst-case scenario is that unlocking leads to a second wave of coronavirus infections, resulting in more deaths and the country being locked down again. It will be very hard to sell this to a public which, despite largely obeying measures since March, has the highest death rate in Europe.
These claims that lockdown is being lifted too soon range from the editorial pages of the left-leaning Guardian newspaper, which believes Johnson is “seeing polls, not science” and “gambling with the health of the nation,” to scientists advising the government who have called it a “political decision.”
In an address to the nation on Sunday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron applauded the country in the battle against coronavirus.
He announced a further easing of restrictions that were put in place to battle the spread of Covid-19. Macron said, “We can be proud of what has been done and of our country.” He said, “tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, by our actions.”
Macron said, starting Monday, mainland France will lift all restrictions previously applied to businesses and transport. “We must get our economy back on track whilst protecting the most vulnerable,” Macron said.
Macron said France will follow the EU Commission recommendation of opening up borders on Monday.
WATCH:
Dozens of people in Beijing have tested positive for coronavirus over the weekend as the Chinese government races to contain the spread of the virus in the capital. Local authorities tested more than 76,000 people on Sunday, of whom 59 tested positive, city officials said today.
Beijing had not reported any new cases for almost two months until Thursday.
Since then, the city has reported 79 confirmed cases, almost all of which are linked to a wholesale food market, according to the National Health Commission, which has called the situation in Beijing “severe and uncertain.”
Market shut, mass testing: On Saturday Beijing shut down the Xinfadi wholesale food market, the biggest of its kind in the country, and launched mass testing for anyone who had visited the market since May 30 and their close contacts.
Declaring “wartime emergencies” in parts of the city, local officials have sealed off the market and at least 11 neighborhoods in the surrounding area, as well as placed a growing number of other neighborhoods where new cases were reported under lockdown.
Officials are tracking those who visited the market: On Monday, Beijing officials said nearly 30,000 people had been to the market during the 14-day period before its closure.
The city has ordered people who had visited the market recently and their close contacts to stay at home for two weeks for medical observation. Several local officials, including the deputy head of the district where the market is located, have been fired, the government announced Monday.
Traces of the virus found: A market official told state media Friday that traces of the virus were found in multiple environmental samples taken from the market, including chopping boards used to chop imported salmon, prompting supermarkets and restaurants in the city to pull the fish off of their shelves and menus.
Beijing officials have since said genetic sequencing indicated the virus found in the market is similar to strains normally found in Europe, and vowed to strength inspections of all cargos from overseas.
US President Donald Trump’s ostentatious refusal to wear a mask is undercutting his own government’s message that face coverings could significantly slow the spread of the coronavirus and actually accelerate a resumption of normal life.
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on Sunday undermined Trump’s implied argument that government-mandated changes of social behavior to deal with the virus are an infringement on the basic rights of Americans. “Some feel face coverings infringe on their freedom of choice – but if more wear them, we’ll have MORE freedom to go out,” Adams wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Trump has plans for more rallies in Arizona, Texas and Florida – states where the virus is fast rising again after early economic openings that he demanded. The events will likely focus attention on his denial about the pandemic and inaccurate judgment that the United States has “prevailed” over the crisis.
The director of the Tulsa Health Department said he wishes President Donald Trump would postpone his planned campaign rally set to take place there on Saturday, citing concerns about a recent increase in local cases of Covid-19.
In an interview with the local newspaper, Tulsa World, Bruce Dart said, “I wish we could postpone this to a time when the virus isn’t as large a concern as it is today.”
The city’s health department on Friday said it recorded its highest daily increase of coronavirus cases to date.
“I think it’s an honor for Tulsa to have a sitting president want to come and visit our community, but not during a pandemic,” Dart told Tulsa World. “I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event, and I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well.”
CNN reached out to the Trump campaign about Dart’s concerns and was told the campaign has no comment.
People are undoubtedly moving around more as vacation season heats up and patience for sheltering at home wears thin.
Many travelers are sticking closer to home with short driving trips, but air travel is on the rise.
More than 500,000 people crossed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at US airports on June 11, the first time numbers have climbed above that mark since the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill in March.
Anyone contemplating a trip has probably asked: Is it safer to fly or drive during the pandemic?
As with most things coronavirus, there’s no perfect answer. It depends on the trip, on your behavior and your risk tolerance.
On June 18, Hong Kong Disneyland will become the world’s second Disney park to reopen.
One of the smallest Disney theme parks, it closed on January 26 due to the global coronavirus crisis and has remained shut since then, with a few exceptions – namely its hotels and a few on-site restaurants.
Shanghai Disneyland was the first park to reopen, welcoming guests back on May 11. Its reopening gave clues as to what Disney parks around the world would look like post-coronavirus, with social distancing regulations enforced and both guests and employees (aka cast members) sporting face masks.
And it looks like Hong Kong Disneyland will follow similar procedures.
Guests will be required to book reservations online at least one week in advance in order to maintain crowd control. Upon arrival, they will have to submit to temperature checks, fill out a health declaration form and wear face masks.
Magic Access members, who are the park’s annual pass holders, will get priority for booking reservations.
There are at least 2,094,058 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 115,732 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.
On Sunday, Johns Hopkins reported 19,532 new cases and 296 new deaths in the US.
The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases.
CNN’s interactive map is tracking cases in the US:
A Chinese company says its experimental coronavirus vaccine caused the body to produce antibodies against the virus.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is testing the vaccine in more than 700 volunteers in an accelerated trial that combines Phase 1 safety testing and the next step, Phase 2.
“The phase II clinical trial results show that the vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies 14 days after the vaccination,” the company said in a statement.
No one has been able to show if these neutralizing antibodies can protect people against infection with Covid-19, but vaccine makers hope they will. More than 90% of the 600 volunteers in the Phase 2 arm developed these antibodies, the company said in a statement.
“Sinovac is collaborating with Instituto Butantan in Brazil to prepare and conduct a phase III clinical study,” it added. Phase 3 testing is the last step to test whether a vaccine or drug works before seeking approval from regulators.
How it works: Sinovac is using an old-fashioned approach to making a coronavirus vaccine, one that that uses an entire virus to prompt the body to develop immunity. The virus is inactivated so it cannot cause disease. This whole-virus approach is slower because batches of virus must be grown in factories to make large amounts of vaccine, but it is effective. Whole-virus vaccines still in use include polio shots, flu shots and the rabies vaccine.
The US is pushing ahead with newer vaccines made using genetic material from the virus. They are faster to make but scientists have to figure out which part of the virus is the best part to replicate in order to induce an strong immune response.
New research from Japan suggests that many coronavirus clusters outside of hospitals may have been started by people who are younger than 40 or don’t feel sick.
The findings offer insight into who might be driving coronavirus transmission – and they underscore the importance of certain measures, such as face coverings, to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Researchers behind the study looked at more than 3,000 coronavirus cases in Japan. They identified 61 clusters linked to places such as health care facilities, restaurants, bars, workplaces and music events. A cluster was defined as five or more cases where people were exposed at a common venue – not including transmission within a household.
The researchers identified 22 patients who likely started clusters outside of hospitals; half of them were between 20 and 39 years old. That is “younger than the age distribution of all COVID-19 cases in Japan,” according to the study.
The research was published last week as an “Early Release” in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means it could see changes before being published.
Overall, the study found 18 clusters linked to health care facilities and ten linked to other care facilities such as nursing homes and day care centers.
Ten additional clusters were from restaurants or bars, eight were from workplaces, and seven were from music-related events such as live concerts, chorus group rehearsals and karaoke parties.
The Brazilian Health Ministry has reported 17,110 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 867,624.
Brazil also recorded 612 new Covid-19 deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death toll to 43,332, according to the Health Ministry.
Brazil is one of the few large countries in the world where coronavirus cases — and death rates — are still rising.
It is Latin America’s hardest-hit country, with confirmed cases climbing by the thousands each day. Only the United States has more confirmed cases than Brazil.
See how Brazil’s cases are soaring:
In a wide-ranging interview published Sunday, America’s top infectious disease expert tempered expectations for a return to normalcy, offered advice to people who are protesting in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and suggested that US travel bans may remain in effect for months.
Coronavirus could “go on for a couple of cycles, coming back and forth,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told British newspaper The Telegraph.
Amid protests for racial justice, Fauci said the “bottom line is there is a risk (in protesting), and of course it’s concerning.” He said that wearing masks helps, but emphasized that crowds are risky.
Fauci also poured cold water on the idea that limits on travel from the UK and other countries would be lifted in time for the summer holidays.
School openings should be based on local conditions, Fauci said in the interview. He also expressed optimism that a vaccine will ultimately be successful. “We have potential vaccines making significant progress. We have maybe four or five,” he said.
“You can never guarantee success with a vaccine, that’s foolish to do so, there’s so many possibilities of things going wrong. (But) everything we have seen from early results, it’s conceivable we get two or three vaccines that are successful.”
Colombia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,193 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the nationwide total to 50,939.
The Ministry of Health also reported 75 new virus deaths, bringing the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 1,667.
Coronavirus-related cases and deaths across Latin America are among the fastest rising anywhere in the world. And in the worst-hit countries, they show no signs of slowing down.
The World Health Organzation does not believe either Central or South America have reached peak transmission, meaning the number of people getting sick and dying might continue to rise.
Penn State University announced in a tweet on Sunday that it would resume in-person learning in the fall semester.
“Penn State to resume in-person learning in fall semester: ‘Back to State’ plans call for flexible, adaptable schedule with classes, activities converting to remote delivery on November 20,” reads the tweet.
