June 23 coronavirus news

The Phoenix Police Department and the mayor’s office say that they will not enforce the city’s mandatory mask order at President Trump’s event today — despite reports of non-compliance among attendees.

The event, which is being held at The?Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, will feature the President speaking to members of a student group. CNN’s Ryan Nobles, who is at the event, reported that few attendees are wearing masks and that social distancing is not being practiced. He said there were no temperature checks at the entry points today.

In responses to these reports, Phoenix police told CNN that they will “continue to lead with education.”

Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement released yesterday that?officials had “contacted both the church and presidential campaign staff to alert them to the city’s masking policy.” But she noted that “the goal of this policy is not to hand out citations.”

“While I do not believe an event of this magnitude can be held safely, particularly as Arizona sees rising Covid cases, the President has decided to continue with this rally,” Gallego said in the statement.

She also noted that church “has indicated that they will be handing out masks to eventgoers and taking temperatures upon check-in.”?

Some background: Arizona has reported?record high numbers of both new daily cases and deaths today and has seen a sharp rise on Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.

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Brazil’s health ministry reported 39,436 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the second-highest daily jump since the start of the pandemic.

The total number of confirmed infections in the country now stands at 1,145,906, the ministry said on Tuesday.

It also said that 1,374 deaths have been reported since yesterday, bringing the total number of those who have officially died from coronavirus in Brazil to 52,645. Tuesday’s death toll was similarly the second-highest daily count.

Brazil has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Latin America and second-highest in the world after the US. The country’s largest daily rise in cases was reported as 54,771 on June 19; its largest daily death toll was reported as 1,473 on June 4.

Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), said that while he is expecting sports to resume in the fall, the data and the virus will guide what the season will look like.

“We’re on a journey and my focus is preparing to play the season as scheduled, but the reality is the?circumstances around the virus?will guide us in that decision-making,” he told CNN on Tuesday.

The SEC is a college athletic conference whose member schools are located in South Central and Southeastern part of the country.

Sankey said he has been talking to medical experts every day about how to keep athletes safe – especially as many schools have allowed students to return to campus for voluntary workouts.

Sankey said he expects student-athletes in the SEC to test positive for the virus, but “we want to be aggressive to?stop the spread” and take precautions now that will allow for competition to resume, he said.

On fans in the stands: Sankey said while he is expecting college football to play as scheduled, he does not expect stadiums to allow fans at full capacity.

“We’re seeing opportunities for?fans to be at events” in a small numbers, he said. He also said there will likely be other safety measures, like masks.

“That doesn’t mean in but if?we’ve got people measuring first?downs, you’re going to see that?type of reality we’re seeing in?our lives every day,” he added.

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As the concern over coronavirus rises again in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new statewide rule to require people to wear masks starting Friday.

“Any facial covering that will cover the nose and mouth will do in this case,” Inslee said at a news conference Tuesday.

The requirement applies in any indoor public space, and also outdoors if social distancing cannot be maintained.

The new rule is in response to a major spike in cases in Yakima County, which has strained local hospitals trying to serve Covid-19 patients.

“There are no rooms available for this treatment in Yakima County,”?Inslee said, adding it is forcing new coronavirus patients to be moved to hospitals in other parts of the state.

As European Union nations continue to ease coronavirus restrictions, the EU is considering recommending that member states block American visitors from visiting their countries due to the surge of coronavirus cases in the US, according to two EU diplomats.

No final decisions have been made and it is ultimately up to individual members to decide who can enter each country.

The New York Times was?first to report on the possibility. The EU diplomats had not seen the draft lists of acceptable travelers the Times reported on, but they said they are aware that discussions are ongoing.

Sources told CNN the criteria of countries on being considered for the EU’s travel ban list is being based on a maximum per capita infection rate of 50 people infected per 100,000 residents.

Among the options being discussed is travel restrictions based on US geographic regions, rather than a sweeping ban on the entire country, since some regions have higher infection rates than others, these people said.

Keep reading.

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Health workers disinfect the main Plaza of Puno, Peru on June 18.

Peru’s health ministry reported 3,363 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday, bringing the country’s total count up to 260,810.?

The ministry also reported 181 new fatalities from the virus, raising Peru’s death toll to 8,404.?

Tuesday marks 100 days since Peruvian authorities declared a state of emergency in the country in order to fight the pandemic.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced in a statement on Tuesday “guidelines that will allow K-12 schools, community colleges, and higher education institutions to safely resume in person instruction for the upcoming academic year.”

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency will provide public K-12 districts with 2.5 million cloth face masks, according to the statement.?

Additionally, Pritzker announced in a news conference that every region in Illinois is on track to begin phase four on Friday.?

About the numbers: Illinois has a total of 137,825 Covid-19 cases and 6,707 deaths.

Pandemic-related losses to California farms, ranches and agricultural businesses will range between $5.9 billion and $8.6 billion this year, the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF) said in a statement Tuesday.

The CFBF, which represents?family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 34,000 members statewide,?said California’s agricultural sector has already suffered over $2 billion in losses this year from large shifts in retail demand and rising production costs.?

“California farmers, ranchers and their employees have continued the essential work needed to keep American families fed, but that work has come with sacrifice,” CFBF President Jamie Johansson said. “The impact is being felt in rural communities throughout the state that rely on agriculture for their residents’ livelihoods.”

Farms, ranches and agricultural businesses have also incurred higher operating costs for measures intended to increase employee health and safety, and in the more complex logistics required to move crops and commodities to market during the pandemic. Many California farmers will never be able to recoup these operational costs, the CFBF said.?

While many California farmers say their live-crop businesses may not survive the pandemic, shelf items like rice, processed tomato products and canned fruit have seen an increase in demand, according to data from the study.?But in aggregate, “the?losses?far outweigh the isolated benefits,” the CFBF said.

The drug maker Sanofi?does not?expect to begin?human trials for one of its Covid-19 vaccine candidates?until?September at the earliest, the company announced Tuesday.

The Phase 1/2 study will test a vaccine approach that Sanofi has used previously to produce an influenza vaccine. Development of the vaccine has been expedited with more than $30 million in funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Sanofi said it?hopes?to have full approval of the vaccine by the first half of 2021 and aims to produce 1 billion doses. The vaccine may require one or?more booster doses, according to a presentation?made?to investors.

Sanofi is also developing a second Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The company expects a human trial for that vaccine approach to start by the end of the year, with?a goal of getting approval as early as?the second half of 2021. The company says it expects to?be able to?supply 90-360 million doses of that vaccine annually.

Thirteen Covid-19 vaccine candidates are currently in human clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

Parents have lost access to childcare services?because of?pandemic?shutdowns and childcare providers have had to confront new costs and protocols to keep children and workers safe from the virus,?experts told?a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday.?

These challenges could?worsen?“childcare deserts” – areas where there is not enough licensed childcare providers to serve a community, Rasheed Malik, a senior analyst for early childhood policy at the?left-leaning?Center for American Progress, told lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing.

“The signs we’re seeing from the industry are worrying,” Malik said.

“One-third of the childcare workforce lost their jobs in April and those jobs may not come back without a public investment. Revenues have been decimated due to lower enrollment while operating costs associated with reopening have increased dramatically,” Malik said. “Without new federal funds to support the physical infrastructure of childcare facilities, we should expect diminished childcare supply, which could inhibit our economic recovery.”

Malik, his colleagues at the center and a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota?have launched?an online tool that features interactive maps showing where childcare deserts exist in neighborhoods across the United States.?“Our team could identify the location and capacity of more than 235,000 child care providers, including both home-based childcare and childcare centers,” Malik said.

“We found that approximately 51% of families with a young child live in a childcare desert,” Malik said.?That was before the pandemic.

“Childcare deserts primarily impact low- and middle-income families. Predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods are very likely to be childcare deserts and many but not all predominantly Black neighborhoods lack sufficient childcare,” Malik said. “Also rural areas have very little licensed childcare and tend to rely more on home-based providers, whose numbers have been in decline over the past decade.

Tucson, Arizona, will postpone its annual Fourth of July fireworks show this year, according to a statement released Tuesday.

City leaders pointed to “the risk of increased community spread of Covid-19” as well as “the extreme fire danger in the region” as the reason for the cancellation.

“It is our intent to hold the event sometime in the future,” Ortega added.

The numbers: Arizona?is reporting 3,591 new cases of Covid-19 and 42 deaths over the last 24 hours, according to state data.

As Texas sees its highest numbers of positive tests and hospitalizations, Gov. Greg Abbott advised residents of the state to stay at home.?

“Because the spread is so rapid right now, there’s never a reason for you to leave your home, unless you do need to go out,” Abbott added.

New restrictions could be put into place if the virus spread continues at its current rate, Abbott said, but the state is already encouraging and reinforcing the ideas of mask wearing, hand sanitization and social distancing.?

There is increased enforcement in areas, such as bars, that are seeing overcrowding, he said. He added that his first obligation is that people in the state understand the magnitude of Covid-19.?

Dr. Lisa Piercey

Half of newly diagnosed coronavirus patients in the state say they don’t know where they may have contracted the virus, said Dr. Lisa Piercey, commissioner for the Department of Public Health.

Piercey said that indicates many of the new cases are from community spread.

She said state officials are still waiting on Tuesday’s case numbers but said they are trending up. The daily average has increased in the past two weeks, Piercey said.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said they are closely watching coronavirus trends after Tennessee experienced its highest single-day case total last week.

The world’s top ranked men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic has issued another statement hours after announcing that he had tested positive for Covid-19 after competing in the Adria Tour, a tennis event that he organized.?

Djokovic’s new statement follows the announcement that the remaining events on the Adria Tour have been canceled.

In his new statement, Djokovic said he is sorry that the tournament caused harm.

He said tournament organizers will be sharing health resources with those who attended the events in Belgrade, Serbia, and Zadar, Croatia.

Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov and Croatian tennis player Borna Coric announced they had tested positive after attending the tournament.??

Read Djokovic’s full statement here.

Texas Children’s Hospital is admitting adult patients, according to a statement sent to CNN.

The hospital is providing “additional capacity through ICU and acute care beds across our hospital campuses to take on both pediatric and adult patients,” according to a statement.?

Both non-Covid-19?positive and Covid-19?positive adult patients are being accepted at facilities run by Texas Children’s Hospital.?

The numbers: Harris County, which includes Houston, has seen a sharp increase in the seven-day rolling average of new cases and in hospitalizations. There are more than 23,000 cases reported in the county and over 118,000 positive cases reported across Texas.?

An Orlando area bar had its liquor license temporarily suspended for violating reopening guidelines.

According to the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Halsey Beshears The Knight’s Pub was in “flagrant violation” of the required social distancing guidelines set forth by the state, and had 13 of the pub’s employees tested positive for the virus.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said businesses failing to comply with state rules will get a visit from Beshears, whom DeSantis called “the grim reaper for business licenses.”

People wear protective face masks as they walk along Worth Ave. as shops began to reopen during the new coronavirus pandemic, Monday, May 11, in Palm Beach, Florida.

It is now mandatory for Florida’s Palm Beach County residents to wear face masks in public.

The Palm Beach County Commission approved a motion on Tuesday to require all residents to wear face masks in public places when social distancing is not possible.?

Several counties across the state including Hillsborough, Orange and?Miami-Dade counties approved similar mandates in the last few days requiring the use of facial coverings while in public.?

On Tuesday, Florida reported nearly 3,300 new cases of coronavirus.?

Leaders of the UK’s medical, nursing, and public health professions are urging the British government to set up a cross-party review to prepare for a second coronavirus wave, according to The British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Tuesday.?

The letter calls for an urgent review, to be completed by October, which evaluates the UK’s national preparedness to deal with coronavirus ahead of winter.?

The health leaders wrote that a review should look to the future rather than attribute blame for past mistakes and should “focus on those areas of weakness where action is needed urgently to prevent further loss of life and restore the economy as fully and as quickly as possible.”??

“We believe that such a review is crucial and needs to happen soon if the public is to have confidence that the virus can be contained,” said the letter.?

The letter has been signed by the?president of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Andrew Goddard; the?president of the Royal College of Nursing, Anne Marie Rafferty; the Chair of the Council of the British Medical Association, Chaand Nagpaul; Editor in Chief of The Lancet medical journal, Richard Horton; and Editor in Chief of The BMJ,?Fiona Godlee.

The letter added, “We don’t underestimate the complexities of establishing this in the required timeframe. We stand by ready to help in whatever way we can.”

President Trump is visiting Arizona today, despite ongoing concerns about an uptick in?coronavirus cases in the state.

He will be participating in a border security roundtable?in Yuma and head to a section of the border wall. Later in the day, he will be participating in an indoor rally?in Phoenix.

Arizona is seeing a rise in new reported cases compared to the previous week, according to John Hopkins University data. Arizona?is reporting 3,591 new cases of Covid-19 as well as 42 deaths from the disease over the last 24 hours, state data shows.

Today’s numbers are a new record high for both new daily cases and deaths since the state started posting data publicly in mid-March.

Arizona is also reporting that it conducted 15,940 new tests for the infection in the last 24 hours.

The state has been battling a surge in Covid-19 cases and had nine days in the last two weeks where there were more than 1,500 new cases being reported by?Arizona’s Department of Health Services.

The state has also been reporting that more than 80% of its available intensive care hospital beds have been in use since last week.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the state would allow local communities to require masks in public if they choose, but would not issue a statewide order.

The coronavirus pandemic is more likely to lead to a baby bust in the United States rather than a baby boom, possibly leaving the nation with about half a million fewer births than otherwise would be expected, experts at the Brookings Institution and nonprofit March of Dimes predict.

Researchers at Brookings in Washington, DC examined data from previous economic studies on fertility in the United States during the recession of 2007-2009 and the 1918 influenza pandemic. After analyzing that data, along with other factors such as job losses during the coronavirus pandemic, the researchers predicted in a report published last week that the United States could see a drop of around 300,000 to 500,000 births due to Covid-19.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, chief medical and health officer at March of Dimes in New York, told CNN on Monday that he and his colleagues have come to a similar conclusion.

“When we started to do the math, we looked at the 1918 pandemic –?as did Brookings – and we saw that there was about a 10% drop in fertility?about nine to 10 months after peak mortality,” Gupta said,?“A drop in 10% or 15% or 20% in the next few years could really spell trouble.”

According to the Brookings Institution, data from the recession suggests that the US birth rate dropped from about 69 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2007 to 63 births per 1,000 women in 2012 – marking a decline of about 9% or roughly 400,000 fewer births.

The Brookings team also found that in 1918, each spike in deaths due to the flu pandemic led an otherwise steady birth rate to fall roughly 21 births per 1,000 – representing a 12.5% decline.

They also noted that the uncertainty and anxiety associated with the coronavirus pandemic, job losses and to some extent?physical distancing, could play a role in a further decline of births. This is something that Gupta, a specialist in internal medicine and preventive medicine, said he has seen among his own patients.

“As I see my patients, I see more and more demands on family planning and contraceptives and other things, coupled with the economic forces and people losing their jobs,” Gupta said, adding that the lives of many of his patients changed drastically, as they not only had to work from home but their home lives became hectic with their children having to stay home too.

This new research has some limitations, including that the findings are based on comparisons with two previous events and might not reflect the real nuances of the current coronavirus pandemic. “Some of these estimates are also dependent on what happens next,”?Gupta said.?

“For example, the fear factor could be?addressed?with a robust plan and call to action that prevents?a second wave of Covid infections this fall. On the other hand, if you do get several waves like we saw in 1918, the situation could be even worse,” Gupta said.?“This pandemic and our response to it and the trust of the public in its government could have?a consequential,?long-term?impact.”

See full report from the Brookings Institution here.

New Jersey has seen an increase in the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 between the ages of 18 and 29, state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Tuesday.

In April that age group represented 12% of the state’s cases. This month they represent 22% of the cases.

Persichilli noted that while some of the increase can be attributed to increased testing, the trend was still concerning, and especially in light of the videos of large gatherings over the weekend along the Jersey Shore and at a bar in northern New Jersey.?

The Oklahoma City Fire Department reported Tuesday that 10 firefighters tested positive for Covid-19 and 55 have been placed into quarantine.

In total, 13 firefighters have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the department. Oklahoma City employs nearly 1,000 firefighters.

The department said that seven of the nearly 650 firefighters who have been tested have had a positive antibody test.?

Medical staff from myCovidMD provide free COVID-19 virus antibody testing at the Faith Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California on June 19.

California is breaking records again, this time setting yet another daily high for confirmed coronavirus cases with at least 5,019 recorded Monday. This is the fourth daily case record in the state over the past week, according to data provided by California Department of Public Health.

Hospitalizations are also at their highest to date for confirmed cases, with more than 3,700 people currently receiving in-patient treatment. Those in intensive care — nearly 1,200 patients — are just below the all-time high for California which was recorded in April.

More than 3.4 million people have been tested for Covid-19 in California to date, and about 4.9% of those have tested positive for the virus.

More than 183,000 people in California have contracted coronavirus and more than 5,500 have died as a result, the data shows.

Rides sit idle at the Casino Pier amusement park in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on April 22.

Amusement parks and water parks can open at 50% capacity in New Jersey on July 2, Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Tuesday, including the rides on boardwalks along the Jersey Shore.

Face coverings will be required for all staffs and attendees at the parks where practical.

Playgrounds will also be allowed to reopen on July 2. State officials will provide their timeline for the return of indoor recreation tomorrow, the governor said.?

Murphy warned that if businesses do not take proper precautions and the numbers continue to tick up, he will respond accordingly —?though he did not announce any specific actions.?

The numbers: New Jersey reported 382 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday. The statewide total is now 169,734.

The state reported 57 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 12,914. Nearly half of those reported deaths —?6,248 —?continue to be in long-term care facilities.?

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, speaks during a press conference at 10 Downing Street in London on June 23.

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, says he expects a “significant” amount or coronavirus to be circulating until at least 2021.

“I would be surprised and delighted if we weren’t in this current situation through the winter and into next spring,” he said Tuesday in a press conference in Downing Street.

The UK Government today announced that in England, the two-meter social distancing rule is being reduced to one meter. However Professor Whitty says people should still maintain two meters where possible.

“A lot of the changes are about emphasizing things that we can do and it is really critical that individuals and firms take these really seriously,” he said, referring to mitigation strategies like avoiding sitting face-to-face.

“Because if we don’t take them seriously then chains of transmission between households will be re-established.”

The New Orleans Health Department, LCMC Health, and LSU Health Sciences offer free coronavirus disease walk-up testing at the Treme Recreation Center in New Orleans on May 12.

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported 1,356 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 51,595.?

There were 17 new deaths reported today, bringing the statewide total to 3,021.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Monday that due to the increase of positive cases, the state will stay in phase two for an additional 28 days.?

Battell Hall stands on the Middlebury College campus in Middlebury, Vermont, on October 14, 2018.

Middlebury College in Vermont will require strict testing and quarantining protocols?for students upon arrival to campus as part of its initial decisions for the fall 2020 semester.

All students have to complete a 14-day quarantine at home before traveling to campus for their assigned move in date, according to a letter sent to the Middlebury community on Monday from President Laurie Patton.?

In partnership with Broad Institute, a medical research institution based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, all Middlebury students will go into “room quarantine” and?will be tested for Covid-19 twice — once upon arrival to campus and a second time after seven days.

“Meals will be delivered to dorms during the quarantine period. Students will not be able to leave their rooms except to use the bathroom, get their meals from the dorm delivery point, or in case of a medical?emergency,” said Patton.

If students test negative, they will go from “room quarantine” to “campus quarantine,” and can move around campus, while still following all physical distancing and safety protocols in place.

“However, for the health and safety of everyone, students will not be permitted to leave campus during this?time,”?according?to the plan.

The small liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, will also adjust its fall calendar to allow for a minimal amount of people coming and going from campus. The fall?semester will begin on September 8, fall break will be canceled, and on-campus classes will end before the Thanksgiving holiday, with the final week of class and exams conducted remotely.

“This coming semester at Middlebury must be one of discipline and vigilance, without the same open boundaries and without many of the activities we are used to,” said Patton.

Read more about the college’s announcement here. ?

People wade in the surf on the morning of May 23 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

At least 17 high school students in Ohio have tested positive for coronavirus after a recent trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,?Robert Sproul, deputy health commissioner of the Belmont County Health Department, tells CNN.

“We were told that 91 students from the Ohio Valley (West Virginia and Ohio) went to Myrtle Beach and returned to the Valley the weekend of the 13-14. Of that group we are being told 45 were Belmont County residents from multiple school districts. This was not a school sanctioned event,” Sproul said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Belmont Health Department confirms 17 positive cases and two contact positives, but Sproul expects that number to increase as more people who went on the trip and the individuals they were exposed to get tested for the virus.

“We’re worried our numbers are going to be creeping up,” he said, adding none of the students have been hospitalized and all are quarantining at home while health officials conduct contact tracing to identify where the students were and who they were with. Contact tracers check in with coronavirus-positive individuals on a daily basis, he added.

Before this spike in cases, Belmont County had reduced infection rates to zero, Sproul said, attributing the county’s then-success to residents taking state-imposed restrictions seriously.

“Maybe reconsider your destination,” he cautions future travelers. “If you’re going to a hotspot and not taking precautions you’re asking for trouble …?it could happen in your town”

A team of scientists at Imperial College in London has delivered the first dose of their trial Covid-19 vaccine to a human volunteer, a spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday.

The dose was administered on Friday to a volunteer, Ryan O’Hare told CNN. The vaccine will initially be trialed in 15 volunteers, he said. In the second phase, 300 volunteers will receive the vaccine.

The so-called self-amplifying RNA vaccine uses “bits of genetic code, rather than bits of the virus,” to use muscle cells to “produce copies of a protein found on the outside of the virus.” According to?Imperial College, this “trains the immune system to respond to the coronavirus so the body can easily recognize it as a threat in future.”

In April, scientists called for volunteers for the human trial of the coronavirus vaccine.

“We are looking for volunteers to take part in our trial in June — they will be the first volunteers to get the vaccine,” Professor Robin Shattock?told BBC radio in April.

Pedestrians adopt a safe social distance as they stand in line outside an Apple Inc. store in Turin, Italy, on June 23.

Italy recorded 18 more coronavirus-related fatalities — the lowest daily increase in deaths among Covid-19 patients since March 1, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said Tuesday.

According to the latest data, the national coronavirus death toll now stands at 34,675.

The total number of active cases has fallen by 1,064, and is now at at 19,573.

Italy also recorded its lowest number of patients in intensive care unites since February with 115 in ICU, 12 less than the previous day.?

The total number of coronavirus cases, including deaths and recoveries, is now at least 238,833.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the US Centers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is seen on a screen as she gives an opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 23 in Washington, DC.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the US Centers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday called for “credible” and “apolitical” experts to oversee the safety of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in order to build the public’s trust.

There needs to be “transparency about exactly what the safety assessments are,” she said, when asked during a Senate Health Committee hearing what specific commitments the Trump administration should make to build public confidence around a coronavirus vaccine.?

Gerberding said scientific organizations including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration should have oversight of the process.?

She also recommended the National Academy of Medicine to monitor vaccine safety.

“When I, for example, had responsibility for administering the smallpox vaccination program for first responders, it was the National Academy of Medicine that monitored the safety of that program and helped us identify very early that there was a safety signal,” Gerberding told the committee.

“Involving the scientific community, credible experts, apolitical in orientation, is really going to be a very important part of building this trust,” Gerberding told the committee.

People line up in their cars at a coronavirus testing site outside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 18.

The Florida Department of Health is reporting an additional 3,286 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total to 103,503, according to state data.?

On Monday, Florida reached a milestone, reporting more than 100,000 cases.?

Here’s a breakdown of daily new cases reported by the state over the last eight days:?

More context: Republican officials in Florida are concerned about?the recent spike in coronavirus cases?in the state, just two months before Jacksonville is set to host part of the Republican National Convention.

“We clearly haven’t beat it,” Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican,?told CNBC?on Monday morning. “So I think everybody is concerned when they read about the cases, the number of cases up.”

People get tested for COVID-19 at a drive through testing site hosted by the Puente Movement migrant justice organization on June 20 in Phoenix.

Arizona reported 3,591 new cases of Covid-19 and 42 deaths from the disease over the last 24 hours, a new record high for both new daily cases and deaths since the state started posting data publicly in mid-March.

The state has been battling a surge in Covid-19 cases and had nine days in the last two weeks where there were more than 1,500 new cases being reported by Arizona’s Department of Health Services.

The state has also been reporting that more than 80% of its available intensive care hospital beds have been in use since last week.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the state would allow local communities to require masks in public if they choose, but would not issue a statewide order.

“The objective has always been that we could slow the virus.”

President Trump is scheduled to speak at a public event at a Phoenix church today.?

Director of the United States National Economic Council Larry Kudlow speaks to reporters outside the White House on May 15 in Washington, DC.?

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that he believes another tax rebate or direct mail checks to Americans “are on the table” as part of an additional stimulus package, but he hopes they would be targeted to those who lost their jobs or are most in need. He stressed that no decisions have been made yet.

Kudlow again said he thinks the discussion on a new stimulus package will begin after the July 4 congressional recess.?

He said “absolutely, definitely” there will not be a second lockdown. He said that while there are some hotspots across the country, case rates are also dropping in many places.

As of this morning, 25 states were seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases over the past week.?

Polish President Andrzej Duda delivers a speech for locals and supporters during a presidential campaign ahead of the rescheduled Presidential Elections on June 17 in Serock, Poland.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his delegation will all be tested for coronavirus before their visit to Washington on Wednesday. US officials joining meetings between Duda and President Trump at the White House will also be tested.

Duda is the first head-of-state to visit the White House since the coronavirus pandemic shut down international travel. Senior administration officials previewed the visit on Tuesday.

Duda is expected to raise the issue of relocating some US troops from Germany – where Trump is planning to cut troops numbers by 9,500 — to Poland.

Also on the agenda for the visit are energy and trade issues, regional security and reopening plans following the pandemic.

Medical workers take down personal information from those driving in at a Coronavirus testing location in the Cambridge Health Alliance Testing Tent in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 18.

Last week, Massachusetts offered Covid-19 testing for people who recently attended large gatherings like the demonstrations and protests to honor George Floyd, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Out of 17,617 Covid-19 tests that were conducted statewide, 2.5% came back positive for Covid-19, Baker said.

Baker said that this percentage was reasonably consistent with the statewide numbers seen in daily testing for coronavirus.

Baker pointed to several factors that likely contributed to the relatively low number of positives Covid-19 cases.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a televised address to the nation in Moscow on June 23.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed raising taxes for the country’s upper-middle class earners to help cover added budgetary costs brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, eliminating the flat personal income tax rate for upper-middle class.

In a televised address Tuesday, Putin said the proposed tax increase from 13% to 15% would apply those who earn more than 5 million rubles ($72,900) a year. The additional budgetary funds would be used for medical treatment of children, he said.

Russia has the third highest confirmed cases of the virus in the world, right after the United States and Brazil, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Putin said the economic fallout was a “serious challenge” for Russia.

The country has come under criticism at home and abroad for its response, but Putin claimed early measures by the government helped save “tens of thousands of lives” of Russian citizens.

Workers carry boxes at Oklahoma's Strategic National Stockpile warehouse in Oklahoma City on April 7.

The Trump administration is racing to replenish the country’s national supply stockpile, despite conflicting messaging from officials about the potential severity of a second wave of the virus.

Nearly half of states are reporting a rise in new cases and some continue to break records in their daily reported cases. Behind the scenes, officials are trying to execute on a newly envisioned Strategic National Stockpile, informally called “SNS 2.0,” and restock the country’s supply before a possible fall resurgence.??

State officials are taking matters into their own hands and working on bolstering their own stockpiles, following the supply scramble that unfolded earlier this year.?

The Health and Human Services Department, which maintains the stockpile, has outlined efforts to replenish its coffers, but hasn’t disclosed exactly much supply it currently has. The preparations underway acknowledge the looming possibility of another surge in coronavirus cases.?

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on CNN Sunday that the administration is “filling the stockpile in anticipation of a possible problem in the fall,” but on Monday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC there won’t be a second wave, saying, “there is no second wave coming. It’s just, you know, hot spots.”

The administration and state leaders say the rise in cases is due to more testing availability. But epidemiologists argue case numbers should go down with greater testing, because theoretically health officials should be able to trace the cases and slow the spread of the virus.

Read more here.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rides a horse during a demonstration in favor of his government in front of Planalto Palace on May 31 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered by a federal judge in Brasilia — the country’s capital — to wear a face mask in public or face a fine.

Federal Judge Renato Borelli issued a decision Monday,?ordering Bolsonaro to wear mask when in public in Brasilia. The judge’s order said failure to do so could potentially lead to a fine of up to R$2000 a day, about?$386 USD.

The decision extends to all?government employees?in the Federal District,?where the capital Brasilia is located.?

Some background: The Federal District government had issued a decree on April 30?making the use of face masks in public spaces mandatory, in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. President Bolsonaro has since appeared in public at several events without wearing the mask, including rallies with supporters.?

Brazil?is the country with the world’s second highest coronavirus rate.?More than 1.1 million cases and more than 51,000 deaths have been confirmed by Brazilian health authorities.

Syracuse University has suspended all study abroad programs for the fall 2020 semester due to travel concerns during the pandemic.?

The university said it remains concerned about the likelihood of travel restrictions for US travelers, as well as the diminished experience students would likely have abroad, since many countries are still in their own phased reopening, according to a letter sent Monday to study abroad students from Syracuse Assistant Provost Erika Wilkens.

Students who planned to study abroad this fall will be given priority placement for the spring 2021 semester.

Syracuse joins Georgetown, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Butler, Penn State and other universities that have previously announced canceling study abroad programs for the fall.

A view of the campus at Columbia University is seen on May 21 in New York.

Mandatory face coverings, hygiene stations and health screenings are all included in newly-released guidelines for New York state’s higher education institutions to reopen when the state reaches Phase Four.

The five-page plan released Monday included recommended best practices and mandatory steps. The mandatory?requirements?are broken up into five categories:

Institutions must require all students, employees and visitors to wear face coverings in common areas or situations where social distancing may be difficult. This does not apply to roommates, who are allowed to be within six feet of each other without a face covering.

All higher education institutions must also plan with their local health department where exposed or infected students can go to quarantine or be in isolation.

Institutions also have to provide face coverings for free to employees who interact directly with students and there have to be hygiene stations for hand washing with soap, running warm water, disposable paper towels, and an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, throughout the institution. Cleaning and disinfection requirements from the CDC and Department of Health to clean public spaces and restrooms also need to be followed.

Employees, students and scheduled visitors need to go through health screenings and schools are responsible for notifying state and local health departments of their number of confirmed positive cases. They also need to have plans in place to contact trace.?

The plan also lists a wide variety of recommended practices such as considering a mix of in-person and remote learning and reconfiguring social spaces and classrooms to help maintain social distancing.

Read more about the plan here.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, dines with his wife Chirlane McCray in an outdoor booth at Melba's restaurant in Harlem on the first day of the Phase 2 reopening of the city during the?coronavirus pandemic Monday, June 22, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dined at Melba’s in Harlem with the first lady yesterday as the city entered phase 2 of reopening which allows outdoor dining.

He thanked the wonderful hosts at Melba’s, called it a “beautiful night” and said he was grateful to get back to the “life” “energy” and “culture” of the city.

Yesterday the mayor said he would “absolutely” dine out and called Monday —?the first day of phase 2 — an “important” and “historic” day. He described phase 2 as a “giant step” for the city.

The mayor said the daily Covid-19 indicators are all “under desired thresholds” on Tuesday, and said “today is a very good day.”

He said 2% of people tested positive for the virus, which is under the 15% threshold, the daily number of people admitted to hospitals for the virus is at 45, which is under the 200 threshold, and the daily number of people at Health and Hospitals ICUs is at 320, under the 375 threshold.

A general view of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C., on May 13.

A group of Democratic senators is asking Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Peter Gaynor whether the agency is shipping enough personal protective equipment to staff working at nursing homes, which are epicenters of coronavirus outbreaks in some states.

“Recent data show that approximately 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States are residents or workers at nursing homes and other longterm care facilities,” Sens. Maggie Hassan, Elizabeth Warren, Bob Casey and Chuck Schumer wrote in a letter to Gaynor Tuesday.

Some background: Earlier this month, nursing homes complained they were getting defective equipment, including gowns that look more like large tarps — with no holes for hands — and paper-thin surgical masks. In late April, President Trump?announced an effort?to send more supplies to nursing homes, but providers say they haven’t always gotten what was promised.

“Recent public reports also indicate that some of the PPE shipped through FEMA’s recent initiative has been defective, inadequate, and unusable.”

The senators asked Gaynor to answer questions, including: “Are the 14-day supply shipments that FEMA and the Supply Chain Stabilization Taskforce are sending to nursing homes a one-time occurrence, or does FEMA have a long-term plan to distribute PPE to these facilities?”

Dream City Church is seen on June 22 in Phoenix. The church will host the Students for Trump convention and get a visit from President Donald Trump on June 23.

President Trump is sending the wrong message by participating in an indoor rally today in Phoenix while the state faces an increase in new Covid-19 cases, a leading public health expert in that state said during an interview on CNN’s New Day.

Trump is expected to deliver remarks at a Students for Trump rally inside a church facility. Arizona is one of 10 states that saw their highest 7-day average of daily new coronavirus cases on June 21, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington early on Sunday, June 21, after stepping off Marine One as he returns from a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Asked whether his comment on slowing down testing was a joke, President Trump told reporters “I don’t kid” as he departed the White House for campaign events in Arizona.

Trump again said that testing is a “double-edged sword” and praised the country’s testing program saying the US has the “greatest testing program anywhere in the world.”

What this is about: In a shocking admission during his Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally on Saturday night, Trump?said he had told officials in his administration to slow down?coronavirus testing because of the rising number of cases in America.

Some administration officials had tried to downplay Trump’s remarks from Saturday’s rally.

An administration official told CNN later Saturday that the President was “obviously kidding,” and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that the remark was made “in jest.” On Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also told reporters that Trump was speaking “in jest.”

“He has not directed (coronavirus testing to be slowed), and, in fact, I would note that first we continue to test about 500,000 per day, about half a million people per day,” McEnany said in the briefing. “$1.8 billion dollars is invested in NIH to find new testing capabilities, any suggestion that testing has been curtailed is not rooted in fact.”

“It was a comment that he made in jest,” McEnany added.

WATCH:

Dr. Preeti Malani, a fellow with the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Chief Health Officer at the University of Michigan, said contact tracing?“will be essential, especially in the fall.”

Malani said as children return to school, contact tracing will be especially important. And as it is now,?“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done between now and then, in terms of just making this functional,” she said while speaking at a briefing Tuesday morning.

Malani said this is new territory, but “the role of technology is going to be very important.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci leaves after the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on April 10, 2020 at the White House in Washington.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,?says?“a safe and effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be essential to stopping the spread of infection, reducing rates of morbidity and mortality, and preventing future outbreaks.”

In his opening statement prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and posted online, Fauci says?NIAID is working with several partners — including Moderna and Rocky Mountain Laboratories — on a potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Additionally, the National Institutes of Health is working to find therapeutics to fight coronavirus.

“The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is leveraging the NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection, a compilation of every drug approved for human use by major regulatory agencies worldwide, and other collections of small molecules and compounds to identify potential SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics for further investigation,” Fauci says.

Dr. Natalia Echeverri,?prepares a swab to gather a sample from the nose of a homeless person to test for Covid-19 on April 17, in Miami, Florida.

The United States has performed nearly 22 million tests for Covid-19 since the pandemic began,?says?Admiral Brett?Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the US Department of?Health and Human Services.

In his opening statement, prepared for his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and posted online, Giroir says the US is “now at a rate of between 400,000 and 500,000 tests per day, and this number will continue to increase.”

Keep in mind: Giroir doesn’t specify which type of test he is referring to – those that check for current infection or those that check for past infection. It is also important to note many individuals have received multiple tests.

The US Food and Drug Administration continues to grant?emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 tests in “record number,” Giroir says.?“The amount and expediency in which EUAs were issued for Covid-19 tests far exceed past viral outbreaks.”

Giroir says in 2016, during the Zika outbreak, the FDA issued 20 test EUAs. In 2009, for H1N1, there were 17 test EUAs.

“As of June 12, 2020, FDA has issued more than 135 Covid-19 test EUAs,” Giroir said.

As Covid-19 cases rise among young people in the United States, there has been debate around whether a natural herd immunity may emerge since the nation doesn’t have a vaccine yet — but scientist and author William Haseltine said on Tuesday that the coronavirus can be complex.

He continued: “Every year, the same four coronaviruses come back to give us colds. … If you have one of those coronaviruses, it can cause the exact same disease a year later,” Haseltine said.” We now know from studies that you can just watch immunity fade over a two-month period. It doesn’t disappear, but it fades in that short of period. So,?there isn’t such a thing as herd immunity. It’s a fantasy. It happens for some viruses. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for this one.”

No state has effectively transitioned from lockdown “to a public health model of testing, tracking, isolating and quarantining” during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Speaking today on CNN’s New Day, Besser said to control the spread of the virus, states “need a public health system that’s working. You need messaging lined up around that.”

“In New York where they’ve hired thousands and thousands of contact tracers, we are hearing that there’s problems – that people don’t want to tell them who they had contact with,” Besser explained. “I think part of that is that a lot of the social benefits in terms of income support, eviction protection, foreclosure protection, are going away – and so for somebody to go into quarantine – it could mean losing their job.”

WATCH:

Novak Djokovic returns the ball during an exhibition tournament in Zadar, Croatia, on Sunday, June 21.

Novak Djokovic, the men’s world number one tennis player has tested positive for coronavirus, he announced Tuesday in a statement on his website.

The Serbian tennis star had been taking part in the Adria Tour, a mini-tennis tournament he set up to raise funds for those in need while simultaneously allowing players to get back into shape ahead of the resumption of the tennis calendar.?

On Sunday, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who had been taking part in the tournament, announced that he had tested positive for the virus, forcing a canceation of the final scheduled later that day.

On?Monday, Croatian Borna Coric announced he too tested positive after attending the tournament.?

Ready Djokovic’s full statement here.

WATCH:

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says getting a flu vaccine this year will be more important than ever.?

“Getting a flu vaccine is more important now that [sic] ever. Getting a flu vaccine will help keep you and your loved ones out of a doctor’s offices and hospitals and help conserve scarce medical resources to care for Covid-19 patients,” he said.

Redfield said the CDC is working with public health officials across the United States to increase the number of people who get the flu vaccine.

“Ongoing Covid-19 activity may affect where and how flu vaccines are given. CDC is working with manufacturers to maximize flu vaccine supply and with providers and health departments to develop contingency plans so that people can be vaccinated in a safe environment,” Redfield says.

Dr. Robert Redfield attends a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on "COVID-19 Response" in Washington, DC, on June 4.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to testify this morning that the agency “has developed a new laboratory test that checks for three viruses at the same time, two types of influenza viruses (A and B) and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.”

What this means: In his opening statement, prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and posted online, Redfield said, “testing for all three viruses simultaneously will allow public health laboratories to continue surveillance for influenza while testing for Covid-19. This will save public health laboratories both time and resources,?including testing materials that are in short supply.”

Redfield said the single test for all three viruses will also help find co-infections, “which is important for doctors to diagnose and treat people properly.”

A motorcycle for take-out delivery service Ele.me is seen parked in a residential district of Beijing, in May 2017.

Chinese food delivery service Ele.me said on Tuesday that it is conducting nucleic acid tests for coronavirus on all its food delivery workers in Beijing.

Nucleic acid tests?work by detecting the virus’ genetic code,

The company also announced their newly registered delivery drivers have to receive a nucleic acid test before they can accept orders online, as part of a series of new precautionary measures posted on the company’s Weibo page. This comes the same day Beijing’s Health Commission announced that one of Ele.me’s food delivery workers tested positive for Covid-19.?

About the company: Ele.me is owned by Chinese tech company Alibaba and operates across 2,000 cities in China employing more than 3 million delivery workers. Ele.me has not released any information about the size of its workforce in Beijing and how many drivers have been tested so far.?

Miami’s Jackson Health System has seen an 88% increase in Covid-19 patients in the past 14 days, according to data posted by the hospital system on Twitter. On June 8, Jackson Health reported 104 Covid-19 patients. On Monday, they reported 196.

Jackson Health System is a nonprofit academic medical system. The State of Florida does not release the total number of daily Covid-19 cases in the state.

Here’s some background: The major thrust of new coronavirus cases in the United States is in the South and West, where officials say?more young people are ignoring social distancing measures and testing positive.

Young people are more likely to have milder outcomes from coronavirus, but they can still infect others who are more at risk.

Dr. Andrew Pastewski, head ICU physician at Jackson South Medical Center in Miami, spoke Tuesday about the surge of patients he’s seeing at his hospital during an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”

Pastewski told CNN he has two sets of patients in the ICU right now: older patients that may live in a nursing home, and younger patients in their 50s and 60s.

WATCH:

Medical staff wait at a port to transfer COVID-19 patients brought from nearby communities in Iquitos, Peru, on June 18.

Peru’s Health Ministry has reported the lowest daily increase since the beginning of May, with 2,511 new Covid-19 cases. The total number of cases has now topped 257,000.

The country’s death toll is at least 8,223, with 174 new deaths, according to data released by the Ministry on Monday night.

Today marks 100 days since Peruvian authorities declared a state of emergency in the country in order to fight the pandemic.

In an interview with the country’s Andina state news agency, Health Minister Victor Zamora said that Peru’s capital Lima, which has 80% of the country’s coronavirus cases, currently shows the R level between 0.7% and 0.8% and showed optimism about the evolution of the pandemic.

Zamora acknowledged the lack of oxygen for patients is still a big challenge in the country and stated his government is buying plants to produce medical oxygen, among other emergency measures.

Gradual easing: Yesterday, shopping centers were allowed to open in Lima and other towns — with some exceptions — allowing the resumption of economic activities.

The state of emergency was initially declared on March 16?and continues until June 30. A national curfew between 9 p.m and 4 a.m local for all regions across the country was also announced on Monday, modifying previous timings per region.

If you’re just joining us, here are the latest developments on the global coronavirus outbreak:

More than 9.1 million infections have been confirmed worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.?But as some countries have not yet controlled the first wave of the pandemic, others have announced new outbreaks.

South Korea?and?Germany?– who initially seemed to have the virus under control – are racing to contain newer clusters, which are threatening their relative progress at containing the pandemic.

Meanwhile in the?US, cases are spiking?in some states as the nation continues to reopen.

India,?with the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, has seen more than 100,000 new cases in the past eight days as the country?struggles to contain the virus.?

In Latin America, which has seen the biggest recent increases in cases, the also situation continues to worsen.?

On Monday,?Mexico?recorded a higher daily death count than Brazil for the second consecutive day, and Brazil, which has the second highest numbers of cases worldwide, has reported an average of 1,000 virus-related deaths a day over the past week.

Also:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reveals big relaxation of lockdown rules: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that people across England will be able to go to restaurants and pubs, hair salons, museums and cinemas from July 4, in the most significant relaxation of restrictions since they were imposed three months ago.

World trade dropped by nearly a fifth in second quarter: World trade fell by 18.5% in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global economy, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday. The fall in trade is “the steepest on record,” but Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said it could have been “much worse.”

Germany imposes lockdown around virus-stricken meat plant: The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has imposed a new lockdown in the area around a meat factory hit by a coronavirus outbreak.

The district where the Toennies meat processing plant is located – and the scene of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers – will return to lockdown measures, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia announced Tuesday.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in the House of Commons in London, on Tuesday, June 23.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that people across England will be able to go to restaurants and pubs, hair salons, museums and cinemas from July 4, in the most significant relaxation of restrictions since they were imposed three months ago.

“All hospitality indoors will be limited to table service, and our guidance will encourage minimal staff and limited contact,” Johnson told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

He added that hair salons could open with appropriate precautions, such as the use of visors.

“Thanks to our progress we can now go further and safely ease the lockdown in England,” he said.

The PM added that from July 4, two households of any size would now be able to meet “in any setting inside or out.” Current rules only allow groups of up to six people to meet outside, while keeping 2 meters apart.

Johnson said that while people should still be keeping 2 meters apart when possible, the rule would be reduced to 1 meter if additional mitigation measures were in place.

WATCH:

A Delta Airlines plane lands at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on June 5.

Delta Air Lines says they have seen 500 positive cases of coronavirus?among?their 90,000 employees worldwide.

The airline said they have added more space, clean surfaces and introduced safer service which includes the requirement that all employees and customers wear face masks as layers of protection, according to a statement from airline spokesman Joseph Warpinski.?

Warpinski said these efforts have resulted in the rate of positive Covid-19 cases among Delta’s global employees being nearly five times lower than the U.S. national average in May and during the first half of June 2020.

In addition to the 500 employees testing positive for Covid-19, 10 airline employees have passed away from the virus since the start of the pandemic in March, Warpinski told CNN.

When Mariel Balaban drove across the United States in the middle of the pandemic, she knew that avoiding public restrooms was not an option for her young family.

“Traveling with a toddler and being seven months pregnant means lots of ‘potty stops,’” said Balaban, a communications professional who moved from San Francisco to the Philadelphia area in early April. But Balaban worried that finding safe, clean public restrooms was going to be a challenge.

To mitigate the risk, she packed masks and disposable gloves. When stopping at gas stations, the family tried to avoid touching anything unnecessarily.

Everyone disinfected their hands each time they returned to the car, and Balaban wiped down “high-touch” surfaces likely to contain germs.

Still, the restroom thing was stressful.

And a?new study?underscores the potential risk, showing how flushing a toilet can send plumes of germs into the air. While the World Health Organization has said the risk of contracting Covid-19 from fecal matter?appears to be low, it noted?studies that have suggested?the Covid-19 virus can be excreted in feces.

Read the full story here:

Cardiff, UK: November 13, 2016: Public bathroom. Ladies restroom with cubicles and sinks and a purple tiled wall.

Related article Public restrooms: What you need to know about using them safely amid the pandemic

Members of the German armed forces prepare to help with taking throat swab samples for Covid-19 testing of employees at the Toennies meat packing plant in Guetersloh, Germany on June 19.

A new coronavirus testing center will be opened in Guetersloh, Germany, on Tuesday, according to a local association of physicians.

The region is at the center of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers following an outbreak at a Toennies meatpacking plant.

The center is opening because of the “current special situation,” according to a press release from the association of statutory health insurance physicians in Westfalen-Lippe (KVWL). The center will opens its doors at 2 p.m. CET Tuesday to test asymptomatic people.

“Testing of asymptomatic people is usually not in our remit of registered physicians. Because of the current special situation in Guetersloh district, the public health service has tasked us to run these tests in our practices in the region. It is clear for us: we help where we can,” Dr. Dirk Spelmeyer, chair of the KVWL said in a statement.

Here’s some background: The German state of?North-Rhine Westphalia?has imposed a new lockdown in the area around the Toennies meat processing factory.

The state’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet announced that the entire district of Guetersloh – home to more than 360,000 people – would be locked down for the next seven days.

World trade fell by 18.5% in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic?hit?the global economy, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday.?

“The fall in trade we are now seeing is historically large – in fact, it would be the steepest on record,”?said Director?General Roberto Azevêdo. “But there is an important silver lining here: it could have been much worse.”

In April the WTO had warned that the worst case scenario for global trade was a 32% fall in the quarter. It praised the global response to the crisis for limiting the fall.

The Fugaku supercomputer is pictured at the Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, on June 16.

For the first time in years, Japan has the fastest?supercomputer?in the world and it’s being used to research the spread and treatment of the novel coronavirus.

Fugaku, which was developed by?Fujitsu?and government research institute Riken, ranked first in the Top500 list of global supercomputers, Fujitsu and Riken?announced?on Tuesday. It marks the first time a Japanese system has taken the top slot since 2011.

The Top500 measures benchmarks such as processing speed and the performance of computing used in?artificial intelligence?and deep learning.

Fugaku can perform more than 415 quadrillion (or 415,000 trillion) computations a second, making it 2.8 times faster than Summit, the supercomputer built by?IBM?which previously held the top spot.

How has it been used so far? The Japanese supercomputer is already being used on an experimental basis for research on Covid-19, including on diagnostics, therapeutics, and simulations of the spread of the virus, Riken said in a statement in April.

Fugaku — which is?another name for Mount Fuji?— is scheduled to be operating at full capacity next year.

Read the full story here.

At the start of each day, Dr. Anita Kemi DaSilva-Ibru and her team put on gloves, facemasks and other personal protective equipment to see their patients.

They’re not treating people for Covid-19, but they are on the frontline of the pandemic, working at the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), a rape crisis center in Lagos, Nigeria.

Wearing protective gear is the new reality for crisis center workers, like DaSilva-Ibru.

“We change these kits each time we see a survivor as we are mindful of the risk of transmission of the virus between the survivor and us and the cross-contamination between a survivor and the next,” she told CNN.

US-trained gynecologist DaSilva-Ibru has spent most of her career treating hundreds of sexual violence victims but it was the growing scale of the crisis in Nigeria that prompted her to set up WARIF in 2016.

The clinic in Yaba, a suburb of Lagos, provides medical treatment, legal assistance therapy and space for rape victims and survivors of sexual abuse to get back on their feet.

One in four Nigerian girls?has been the victim of sexual violence, according to UN estimates but DaSilva-Ibru says the numbers are higher as many cases go unreported due to the stigma attached.

DaSilva-Ibru says her work with survivors of sexual violence has become more critical during the outbreak, with restrictions to curb the virus from spreading fueling a surge in calls.

It’s a story echoed in other parts of the region, as authorities grapple with a growing number of Covid-19 cases and the impact restrictions are having on women.

Read the full story:

Related article She's on the frontline of a rape epidemic. The pandemic has made her work more dangerous

Medical workers speak with a person at a temporary coronavirus testing station in Seoul, South Korea, on June 11.

More than 9.1 million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

But as some countries have not yet controlled the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, others have announced new outbreaks.

South Korea and Germany – who initially seemed to have the virus under control – are racing to contain newer clusters, which are threatening their relative progress at containing the pandemic.

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has imposed a new lockdown in the area around a meat factory hit by a coronavirus outbreak.

The district where the Toennies plant is located – and the scene of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers – will return to lockdown measures, it was announced Tuesday.

In South Korea, a second wave of coronavirus outbreak is already underway, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Officials believe the current wave began during the May holiday period.

With the number of cases expected to increase in the autumn and winter months, KCDC director Jung Eun-kyeong added that health authorities are readying enough beds to deal with a large-scale outbreak.

A woman has her temperature checked at Iztapalapa market, in Mexico City, on June 22.

Meanwhile in the US, cases are spiking in some states as the nation continues to reopen. The major thrust of new coronavirus cases is in the South and West, where officials say more young people are ignoring social distancing measures and testing positive.

India, with the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, has seen more than 100,000 new cases in the past eight days as the country struggles to contain the virus.?

In Latin America, which has seen the biggest recent increases in cases, the also situation continues to worsen.?

On Monday, Mexico recorded a higher daily death count than Brazil for the second consecutive day, with 759 newly recorded deaths and almost 5,000 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to over 185,000 and the death toll to more than 22,500.

Brazil, which has the second highest numbers of cases worldwide, has reported an average of 1,000 virus-related deaths a day over the past week. Brazil’s Health Ministry reported an additional 654 deaths on Monday, bringing that country’s official coronavirus death toll to 51,271.

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has imposed a new lockdown in the area around a meat factory hit by a coronavirus outbreak.

The district where the Toennies meat processing plant is located – and the scene of a Covid-19 cluster that has sickened some 1,553 workers – will return to lockdown measures, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia announced Tuesday.

Armin Laschet said the restrictions in Guetersloh would be valid for a week until June 30 and would be similar to the lockdown measures introduced in March.

The outbreak in the meatpacking plant has been linked to a spike in Germany’s overall coronavirus reproduction rate by the country’s public health body.

The cluster prompted the closure of daycare centers and schools in the region, and the army was deployed to aid testing efforts.

The lockdown measures will include no group contact, and all restaurants, pubs, bars, swimming pools and fitness studios will be closed.

Meanwhile, the district of Guetersloh is trying to improve communication with the workers at Toennies and has called for volunteer translators. Officials have said that the workers being tested are mostly from Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, and on Tuesday, the district announced it is looking for 150 translators until the end of September.

With?half of US states reporting a rise in new cases, one expert warns of “danger signs” in some parts of the country.

After weeks of many Americans failing to heed face mask and social distancing guidelines, health officials in some states are reporting an increase in younger populations testing positive – saying?those individuals are often asymptomatic but could be infecting others.

And public health measures meant to control infection aren’t quite up to speed – a problem the country has consistently faced in past months.

Besser said Monday night he sees “some real danger signs for places like New York, New Jersey, Washington (DC).” New York City, Washington, DC, and the state of New Jersey have entered their second phase of reopening.

Read more:

In this photo taken Tuesday, June 16, 2020, a Washington National Guard medic wears full protective equipment while explaining to a driver how to insert a swab into their nasal passage at a coronavirus test site in Yakima, Wash. The coronavirus pandemic is hitting Yakima County hard, with cases surging far faster in than in the rest of the state. The virus has caused turmoil in the farm and food processing industries, where some fearful workers staged wildcat strikes recently to demand that employers provide safer working conditions. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Related article US is still in the first wave of the pandemic and experts raise concern for several states

The major thrust of new coronavirus cases in the United States is in the South and West, where officials say?more young people are ignoring social distancing measures and testing positive.

Young people are more likely to have milder outcomes from coronavirus, but they can still infect others who are more at risk.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told Axios that the recent high number of cases in young people is “not surprising.” Like Frieden, he warned of what’s to come.

Read the full story:

People get tested for COVID-19 at a drive through testing site hosted by the Puente Movement migrant justice organization Saturday, June 20, 2020, in Phoenix. Latinos are especially vulnerable to infection because they tend to live in tight quarters with multiple family members and have jobs that expose them to others. They also have a greater incidence of health conditions like diabetes that put them at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Related article Nearly half of US states are reporting a rise in new coronavirus cases

Hundreds of devotees are expected to participate in one of India’s most celebrated religious processions Tuesday, after the country’s highest court ruled that the annual spectacle could go ahead in a limited capacity despite the high coronavirus risk.

The annual Rath Yatra festival, which takes place in the coastal city of Puri in the western state of Odisha, celebrates the Indian deity of Jagannath and lasts for more than a week.

The Supreme Court had previously ruled against the Hindu celebration, saying the risk of coronavirus infection was too high with more than a million people expected to attend.

However, the Odisha state government promised to conduct the festival in a “limited way,” and asked the court for an injunction, leading to the Supreme Court overturning its own order on Monday.

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Indian Hindu devotees pull a chariot carrying the icon of Lord Balaram, brother of Lord Jagannath, in Raipur area during the 142nd annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, in Ahmedabad on July 4, 2019. - Idols of Lord Jagannath, his Sister Subhadra and his Brother, Balaram are taken out in a procession from Lord Jagannath Temple once a year. According to mythology, the Ratha Yatra dates back some 5,000 years when Hindu god Krishna, along with his older brother Balaram and sister Subhadra, were pulled on a chariot from Kurukshetra to Vrindavana by Krishna's devotees. (Photo by SAM PANTHAKY / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article India allows religious festival to go ahead as coronavirus cases surge

The district of Gütersloh in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state now says that 1,553 workers at the giant T?nnies meat processing plant have contracted the coronavirus.?

Lockdown of the district is still under discussion. The prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET).

The outbreak has prompted the closure of daycare centers and schools in the region and?the Robert Koch Institute, a public health body, linked a spike in Germany’s overall coronavirus reproduction rate directly to the plant.

The plant is one of several meat processing factories now facing scrutiny after coronavirus outbreaks highlighted the poor working and living conditions faced by the industry’s many foreign workers.

Read more about the outbreak at the plant:

GUETERSLOH, GERMANY - JUNE 19: A Member of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, stands in front of the Toennies meat packing plant during the coronavirus pandemic in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck on June 19, 2020 near Guetersloh, Germany. Hundreds of workers at the plant have so far tested positive for the virus, which has led authorities to shut school and child day care centers in the region and place 7,000 people in quarantine. The Bundeswehr began assisting with the testing at the Toennies facility today and will stay on until June 23. (Photo by Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images)

Related article The giant meatpacking company at the heart of Germany's new coronavirus hotspot

US President Donald Trump?is now paying a direct, personal price for his pandemic denial – the possible shelving of the thing he cares about most, the raucous rallies that defined his political rise and?are crucial to his reelection hopes.

Trump spent the weekend seething?about the disappointing crowd for his comeback event in Oklahoma on Saturday night,?according to CNN reporting. His hopes of a full-time return to the campaign trail then took another blow with news that eight staffers and two Secret Service agents at the event are now positive?for the?coronavirus.

The test results cast Trump’s risky decision to go ahead with an indoor rally that doctors fear turned into a super-spreader infectious event in an even worse light. They also show how the virus – now marching through southern and western states despite Trump’s insistence that the US has already “prevailed” in the fight – is having a disastrous impact on the “Great American Comeback” narrative at the heart of his reelection bid.

Far from easing the political damage caused by the virus, Trump keeps exacerbating it. On Monday, he gave new life to a controversy caused by his remark on Saturday?that he told his staff to slow testing?for the virus to avoid discovering new cases, which in itself reflected his negligence in responding to a pandemic that has now killed more than 120,000 Americans.

Read the full analysis:

Related article Trump's pandemic failing is now directly impacting his campaign

The US Food and Drug Administration is?advising consumers?not to use hand sanitizer products manufactured by Eskbiochem SA due to the potential presence of a toxic chemical.

The FDA has discovered methanol, a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through skin or ingested, in samples of Lavar Gel and CleanCare No Germ hand sanitizers, both produced by the Mexican company.

Eskbiochem did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

The FDA recommends that consumers avoid the following brands of hand sanitizers produced by Eskbiochem:

Kathleen Sebelius talks to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Kathleen Sebelius, former secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, says that while the country is doing more testing for Covid-19, we are still “way behind the virus.”

Documented cases continue to grow, as do hospitalizations and deaths in some parts of the country. “We are still not testing enough,” Sebelius said.

Sebelius was critical of US President Donald Trump, who told supporters at a rally Saturday that testing was “a double edged sword.”

“I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please,’ ” he said. Soon after Trump made the comment, White House officials asserted the President was joking.

“We are still not testing enough, but he’s a man who doesn’t want ‘his’ numbers – whatever those are,” Sebelius said. “Those are patients, as far as I’m concerned – people who have lost loved ones.”

Firefighters wearing personal protective gear spray disinfectant in a closed market in Siliguri, India on June 22.

India registered 312 new coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 14,011, the country’s health ministry announced Tuesday morning local time.?

The country also added 14,933 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 440,215.?

India, with the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, has now recorded over 12,000 daily new cases for the sixth consecutive day.

More than 248,000 people have so far recovered from the virus in the country, according to the ministry.?

The Indian Council of Medical Research said over 7.1 million coronavirus tests have been conducted across the country since the pandemic began.

At least 30,911?new coronavirus cases and?424?deaths were reported in the United States on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.?

A total of 2,312,302?cases have been confirmed in the US, including at least 120,402 related fatalities, according to JHU’s tally.

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

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

Girls wearing face masks and Disney-themed headbands take a selfie at Tokyo Disneyland on February 28, in Tokyo, Japan.

Disney has announced that Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will reopen on July 1, according to a tweet from one of the company’s official Twitter handles.?

The resort has been closed since late February due to the coronavirus pandemic.?

This is the last of Disney’s global resorts to announce a reopening date after the mass closures following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Shanghai Disneyland reopened in May, Hong Kong Disneyland reopened in June, and US and Paris parks are set to reopen in July.

Shoppers walk through a market in Seoul on June 10.

A second wave of coronavirus outbreak is already underway in South Korea, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

KCDC director Jung Eun-kyeong told a briefing on Monday that the current wave began during the May holiday period.

She said the first wave ended in April after the number of daily new cases decreased to around 10 or below for a number of days before trending very slightly upward in early May.

Jung said it was hard to say whether this was a large-scale outbreak but regional outbreaks were occurring and more are expected.

With the number of cases expected to increase in the autumn and winter months, Jung added that health authorities are readying enough beds to deal with a large-scale outbreak.

According to the KCDC, 12,484 people in the country have so far been infected with the virus, with 280 deaths.

Dr. Leana Wen says every time she gives advice about Covid-19 on CNN, she gets hate-filled and racist messages.

Wen, a practicing emergency room physician, said she has heard from fellow Asian medical professionals that they too have faced prejudice during the pandemic. Some doctors and nurses have told her that patients have spit on them or refused treatment.

“Now all of us, as health professionals, we do our jobs. We move on. We do our best. We internalize this. We don’t let this bother us, as much as we can, but I think, the fact is, this doesn’t have to be this way,” Wen said.

In recent months, US President Donald Trump has come under criticism for his remarks, calling Covid-19 “the Chinese plague” and “kung flu.” Wen said that other leaders have stepped up and spoken out against racism and xenophobia.

“Really, the President of the United States should be doing the same,” Wen said.

The President’s words matter, she said.

Thirteen people tested positive for Covid-19 in Beijing on Monday,?the city’s health commission said Tuesday.

Monday’s positive tests bring the total following an outbreak at a wholesale food market earlier this month to 249 cases.

One asymptomatic infection was also reported in the capital on Monday, and a total of 22 asymptomatic cases are currently under observation, the commission said.

Mainland China reported 22 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, including nine imported cases and the 13 cases reported in Beijing that are considered to be locally transmitted, according to the country’s National Health Commission. No new deaths were reported.

Mexico’s Ministry of Health has reported 4,577 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections in the country to 185,122 on Monday.

The number of those reported to have died from the coronavirus since yesterday is 759, which brings the total dead to 22,584.

Monday marks the second consecutive day Mexico has recorded a higher daily death count than Brazil. Brazil’s health ministry reported an additional 654 deaths on Monday, bringing that country’s official coronavirus death toll to 51,271.?

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

At least 24 public health officials across the United States have either resigned, retired or been fired from the positions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) said Monday.

Most are leaving because of pushback from people who don’t like public health restrictions needed to control the pandemic, Lori Freeman, CEO of NACCHO, told CNN.

These incidents have been happening across the country and can cause problems in an already understaffed sector fighting a pandemic.

Freeman said officials find themselves having to enforce the guidelines around reopening states and giving out the best public health advice and guidance that they have, including about social distancing, wearing masks and hand hygiene. Some people don’t like it.

“It’s sort of this false narrative, this false dichotomy between being able to safely open and go about your business, but also be healthy and safe while you’re doing it.”

These losses don’t help at a time when public health departments are already understaffed.

“We came into this pandemic at a deficit, our local health departments across the country have lost 25% of their workforce over the past decade,” said Freeman.

“It just increases an imbalance in the leadership of the health department in a time when we really need our health departments to be front and center on this, on the front lines in fighting this pandemic.”

Sixteen Russian sailors have tested positive for Covid-19 onboard a Russian-flagged ship docked in the South Korean port of Busan, according to a Busan City government official.?

The ship, which departed from the Russian city of Vladivostok, arrived in Busan on Sunday.

Among the 21 Russian sailors on board, 16 tested positive for coronavirus the following day.

The government official added that around 60 people who had close contact with the sailors, including South Koreans who boarded the ship to unload its cargo, have been quarantined and are being tested for the virus.

US President Donald Trump?says that though he never gave an order to slow down testing, he really did tell his people that the United States would look better if fewer coronavirus tests were performed.

That explanation of?his Saturday night rally comment?comes after several White House officials asserted that the President was speaking “in jest” when he told supporters this past weekend that he had told members of the administration to slow down coronavirus testing.

Trump told supporters Saturday that Covid-19 testing was “a double-edged sword.”

“I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down please,’ ” he said.

Soon after Trump made the comment, White House officials asserted that the President was joking.

But in an?interview with CBN News?that aired Monday evening, Trump said he told his “people” – presumably his staff or Cabinet members – about his perceived “disadvantage” to expanded coronavirus testing, adding that he never ordered testing levels be lowered.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Related article Trump says he told his people too much coronavirus testing puts US at 'disadvantage,' contradicting staff

An additional 120 million children in South Asia could be?pushed into poverty?due to the continuing spread of?coronavirus?throughout much of the region, according to a new report released by the United Nations children’s agency.

South Asia, which is home to roughly one quarter of the world’s population, has seen a?rapid acceleration?in the number of people infected with the virus in recent weeks, with India’s total caseload rising to more than 440,000.

In the eight countries detailed in the report, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka, an estimated 240 million children already live in “multi-dimensional” poverty – where a person’s experience of poverty includes multiple factors such as poor health, lack of education, poor sanitation and poor quality of work.

The pandemic could now push an additional 120 million children over the poverty line within the next six months.

Read more here:

Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh a northern province of Afghanistan.15-April-2020 While the city is restricted movement due to COVID-19, UNICEF Afghanistan is on the ground disseminating information and communication material including leaflets and posters in Mazar-e- Sharif, Balkh a northern province of Afghanistan. Up to date (15 April), there are 784 positive cases of COVID-19 overall in Afghanistan, 43 recovered, and 24 deaths. #WeAreInThisTogether

Related article Pandemic could push an additional 120 million children in South Asia into poverty, says UNICEF