May 22 coronavirus news

A wedding in northern Jordan led to 85 people being infected with Covid-19, resulting in one death, a new study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

According to researchers at Jordan University of Science and Technology, the wedding ceremony and party were held indoors on March 13 in the city of Irbid.

Around 360 people attended the event, according to the researchers. Around that time, Jordan only had one confirmed case of Covid-19.

The study conducted tests on samples from 350 possible cases within four weeks of exposure at the wedding, including people who were at the wedding and people who had close contacts with attendees.

Here’s what the study found:

Cases in the outbreak may have been undercounted because possible asymptomatic patients had either shed the virus or have not yet started when tested, researchers said.

Researchers said their findings show one infected person “can transmit the disease to 2-3 other susceptible persons.”

The United States is calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to immediately begin work on an investigation into the source of the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent timeline of events.

In a letter to the WHO’s executive board meeting in Geneva on Friday, US Assistant Secretary for Health Brett P. Giroir wrote: “As President Trump just made clear in his May 18 letter to Director-General Tedros, there is no time to waste to begin on the reforms needed to ensure such a pandemic never happens again.”

He said that such a review will ensure there is a thorough understanding of the “source, timeline of events, and decision-making process for the WHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

A student arrives at a high school in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, May 20.

The Covid-19 virus has infected more than 5.1 million people and killed at least 333,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest on the pandemic:

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a Covid-19 press briefing at the agency's HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 11.

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says almost $800 million has been pledged to help pay for its response to the coronavirus pandemic this year.

That leaves a gap of just over $900 million to reach the agency’s funding target of $1.7 billion.

George Soros at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23.

Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros has said that coronavirus threatens the survival of the European Union (EU) unless the bloc takes action to raise its budget and provide financial relief to its hardest-hit nations.

“Exceptional circumstances require exceptional measures,” Soros said in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published Friday.

“Perpetual bonds or consols are such a measure. They should not even be considered in normal times. But if the EU is unable to consider it now, it may not be able to survive the challenges it currently confronts. This is not a theoretical possibility; it may be the tragic reality.”

The billionaire added that the EU could provide perpetual bonds by authorising taxation in order to issue them, as the bloc would need to maintain its AAA rating for the idea to work.

Soros suggested that the money raised could be allocated to those in the greatest need, especially the hardest hit Southern countries. He was particularly concerned about Italy, which he said had been treated unfairly by the EU and Germany in the past.

Soros said he expected the damage suffered by the Eurozone economy due to the virus to last longer than most people think it will.

The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.

Patients with chronic liver disease or cirrhosis have high mortality rates from the Covid-19 virus, according to a new study conducted by Oxford University Hospitals in the UK and the University of North Carolina in the US. 

The researchers found that patients with cirrhosis – scarring of the liver caused by long-term damage – had an overall death rate of 40%. Cirrhosis is often caused by excessive alcohol consumption over many years, prolonged hepatitis infections, or excess fat build-up around the liver, according to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). 

Researchers studied clinical records from 21 countries encompassing 152 patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis who developed Covid-19.

The study, published in the Journal of Hepatology, said: “Those with advanced disease called ‘decompensated cirrhosis’ had the highest rate of death (between 43 and 63%), compared with 12% for patients with liver disease but without cirrhosis.”

Marjot said the research revealed coronavirus patients with liver disease face “particularly poor outcomes,” but he cautioned that the study is limited by selection bias because doctors tend to report more severe cases.

A staff member greets a student at a high school in Seoul, South Korea, on May 20.

Sixty-six high schools in Incheon, South Korea, that shut on May 20 over coronavirus concerns, will reopen on May 25 the country’s Education Ministry has said.

The high schools opened on Wednesday, the first day back to school since the outbreak, but closed within two hours after two Covid-19 cases were found among the student body.

Contact tracing and tests related to the cases have since been carried out.

All 972 students who had been to the infected areas have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, the ministry said, adding that health officials believe the risk of local transmission is not high enough to keep the schools closed.

South Korea’s Itaewon nightclub cluster infection, which started in early May, has reached a total of 215 cases so far, Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Friday.

He said 20 new cases of the virus had been recorded, raising the national toll to 11,142.

At least 264 people have died from the virus in South Korea.

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. 

At least 94,729 people have died from coronavirus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

There are at least 1,577,758 cases of the disease across the country. The US currently has the highest number of confirmed cases globally.

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

CNN is tracking Covid-19’s spread across the country here.

Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel leaves 10 Downing Street in London on May 14.

The British government has announced that health workers and care staff from non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries will no longer have to pay a contentious fee for their medical care.

The Immigration Health Surcharge is a fee paid by most non-EEA nationals applying for temporary leave to remain in Britain. The government has said the surcharge exists to “ensure that migrants make a proper financial contribution to the cost of their [National Health Service (NHS)] care.”

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said the charge would be scrapped for NHS workers and care staff, in a tweet posted on Thursday.

The government’s abrupt shift on the policy came after opposition leader Keir Starmer urged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scrap the charge for non-EEA workers, during an exchange in parliament on Wednesday.

Johnson initially defended the fee during the session, saying the surcharge was “the right way forward.”

“I challenged the prime minister about this yesterday, at Prime Minister’s Questions [and] asked him to reconsider,” Starmer said on Thursday, in a video posted to Twitter.

“He’s now done a u-turn. That’s a good thing, a victory for common decency.” 

The British government has also extended its bereavement scheme to NHS support staff and social care workers.

The scheme allows the bereaved non-EEA family members of NHS staff, who died as a result of coronavirus, to obtain immediate indefinite leave to stay in the UK.

The view looking across the Millennium Bridge towards St. Paul's Cathedral in London on May 11. 

London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral has opened an online book of remembrance for victims of the coronavirus outbreak, which it says will one day become a physical memorial in the building.

Prince Charles recorded a video message to support the “Remember Me” project, saying the pandemic had resulted in sudden change in British society.

“This virtual book of remembrance is here to help us remember; not just to recall our loss and sorrow, but also to be thankful for everything good that those we have loved brought into our lives, and all that they have given to others.”

The project would be an opportunity to mourn those who have died and recognize the impact of the pandemic, said David Ison, the cathedral’s dean.

“For centuries, St. Paul’s Cathedral has been a place to remember the personal and national impact of great tragedies, from the losses of war to the devastation of the Grenfell Tower fire,” he said.

A volunteer is injected with a potential coronavirus vaccine as part of the first human trials by Oxford University, England, on April 23.

An Oxford University coronavirus vaccine study is ready to begin its next phase, entering human trials involving 10,260 participants, the university said in a statement.

The Oxford University research team is partnering with UK-based global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop and manufacture the potential vaccine on a large scale.

It completed phase 1 of the trial, with more than 1,000 immunizations, the statement said. Phase 2 will now expand the age range of participants receiving the trial vaccine, to include older adults and children.

Next, phase 3 will assess how the vaccine works in a large number of people over the age of 18. 

CNN reported on Thursday that AstraZeneca had announced an agreement for at least 400 million doses of the potential vaccine.

The company received over “$1 billion from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine, starting in the fall,” according to a statement from AstraZeneca.

A migrant worker sits on his bed in a construction site on May 17 in Singapore.

Singapore reported 614 new cases of Covid-19 today, tipping the national total past the 30,000 mark.

The vast majority of the Asian city-state’s 30,426 cases are migrant workers living in dormitories, where clusters began emerging last month and have raged on despite authorities’ efforts to clamp down.

The outbreak spiked highest in April, at one point reaching more than 1,000 cases per day for several days straight.

Since then, it has fallen back down slightly – but remains high, with 400 to 800 cases a day.

Some background: Around 1.4 million migrant workers live in Singapore, mostly employed in construction, manual labor and housekeeping. They largely hail from South and Southeast Asian countries, like India and Bangladesh, and make up a significant portion of the Singaporean workforce.

Of these, about 200,000 live in 43 dormitories, according to Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo.

Each dorm room houses about 10 to 20 residents. They share toilet and shower facilities, eat in common areas, and sleep just feet away from each other. It’s nearly impossible to conduct social distancing – the consequences of which are becoming clear.

Read more about the situation in Singapore:

Migrant workers can be seen on the second level of a factory-converted dormitory for migrant workers on April 20, 2020 in Singapore. Migrant workers in the construction industry have been served with a 14-day stay home notice starting from April 20th in order to curb the transmission of the coronavirus at work sites.

Related article Tens of thousands of Singapore's migrant workers are infected. The rest are stuck in their dorms as the country opens up

The United States has now recorded at least 1,577,758 cases of Covid-19 and 94,729 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

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

New York has the highest figures of any state, with 356,458 cases and 28,743 deaths. New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts follow next.

Check out CNN’s live tracker of US cases here:

People commute during the morning rush hour in Beijing on May 22.

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

And some headlines from earlier:

A police officer issues Atilis Gym co-owners Ian Smith, left, and Frank Trumbetti summons outside outside their gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey on May 19.

The co-owner of a New Jersey gym that was shut down by the state health department says he’s going to reopen his business on Friday, even if he gets arrested.

He also questioned how the New Jersey Department of Health could shut the gym down without county officials entering his premises.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has closed all of the state’s indoor gyms, fitness centers and classes. Murphy’s office said it had no comment about the gym’s plans to reopen at this time, as did the New Jersey Department of Health.

“Constitutional right”: Trumbetti’s attorney Kevin Barry said they will announce their next steps Friday morning when the gym reopens.

“I have a feeling NJ will arrest the owners tomorrow, as the Governor is running out of ways to escalate,” Barry said in an email.

Trumbetti said, “We are sticking to our ground game, that we didn’t do anything wrong, we’re protecting our constitutional right and we’re willing to fight for that.”

A passenger passes a sign reminding travelers to observe social distancing guidelines at almost-empty check-in desks in the departure hall at Terminal 1 of Manchester Airport in Manchester, England on May 11.

The United Kingdom will announce the details of its 14-day mandatory quarantine for international travelers later today, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told Sky News.

The new arrangements will be explained by Home Secretary Priti Patel at the daily coronavirus press briefing, Lewis said.

“And the best way to do that is to ensure people do go through that quarantine period to ensure they have no symptoms and are not able to add to the spread of the virus.”

He added that British citizens will be able to complete the quarantine at home.

Airlines and airport operators have previously warned that a 14-day quarantine will cause significant economic damage to the UK’s tourism and travel industries.

A man walks past a closed nightclub in Seoul's Itaewon district on May 12.

At least 215 cases of Covid-19 in South korea have now been linked to the nightclub cluster in Seoul’s entertainment district of Itaewon.

The first cases began emerging in the area around May 9, and authorities sprang into action, gathering credit card records and cell phone data to track down who might have been in the area during that time.

More than 77,000 people have been found and tested, authorities said today.

Of the 215 confirmed cases, 95 patients contracted the virus from visiting nightclubs patronized by an infected person, said Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The other 120 infections were traced to members of the original nightclub cluster.

South Korea has recorded a total of 11,142 cases and 264 deaths, according to the KCDC.

The Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship departs Sydney Harbor on April 4, in Sydney, Australia.

Australia has extended a ban on cruise ships entering the country’s waters for three more months, according to a statement from the Australian Border Force. 

Some background: The ban was enacted on March 27 after a spike in coronavirus cases in the country was linked to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which disembarked in Sydney earlier that month. 

More than 600 cases and 15 deaths are associated with the ship, according to Australian public broadcaster ABC.

CNN hosted a global town hall on Thursday, answering viewers’ questions about what the future holds for the fight against Covid-19. 

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta were joined by top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and education experts, who discussed what it will take to get kids back in the classroom.

First lady Melania Trump also shared a special message for students.

Watch the highlights here:

Related article Watch the entire CNN coronavirus town hall

A man tours on his bike in the villages of Telangana state to spread awareness about Covid-19 in Hyderabad on May 21.

More than 6,000 people in India have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the country’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on Friday.

The 6,088 new patients bring the national tally to 118,447 cases. This is India’s biggest one-day jump in cases so far.

The death toll stands at 3,583.

Of the total cases, more than 48,500 patients have recovered, according to the ministry.

More than 2.7 million tests have been conducted nationwide, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

CNN's Don Lemon (left) and Andy Slavitt, former acting director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Communities in the United States may be getting overconfident in their ability to accommodate Covid-19 patients in hospitals, the former acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has warned.

Intensive care units need higher capacity than many people realize, former CMS acting director Andy Slavitt told CNN on Thursday night. 

Slavitt said the economy could reopen safely – but only if there is enough testing to address hot spots.

“Nothing magic happened while we were staying home,” Slavitt says. “It’s not like the virus got less contagious or less deadly.”

A security guard wearing a face mask walks with a broom in Kyoto on May 21.

Japan on Thursday lifted the state of emergency in three prefectures: Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo.

The state of emergency – enacted to curb the spread of coronavirus – remains in place for five hardest-hit regions, including Tokyo and Hokkaido. The government will convene on Monday to decide whether to lift the order in those places

The government had imposed a nationwide state of emergency on April 16, and lifted it for most of the country last Thursday.

New cases: Japan recorded 43 new coronavirus cases and 19 deaths on Thursday, according to the health ministry.

That raises the national total to 17,051 cases and 809 deaths. Of those, more than 700 cases and at least 13 deaths are linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was docked in quarantine at Yokohama Bay for two weeks in February.

Drugs found in hand sanitizer bottles on May 8.

Drug smugglers took advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to conceal methamphetamine in shipments of hand sanitizer and face masks sent to Australia, according to officials.

Earlier this month, officers with the Australian Border Force found 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of meth hidden in shipments of some of the most needed items during the pandemic.

The packages were both shipped from Canada, according to the release. The drugs were found as officers inspected shipments at the Sydney Gateway Facility.

When officers opened the boxes to check them over everything initially seemed to be in order. Inside, packages of face masks and two bottles of hand sanitizer were wrapped in bubble wrap, officials said in the release.

But upon further inspection, the bottles had false bottoms, the release said. Inside the secret compartment was a crystal-like substance, which later tested positive for methamphetamine, officials said.

Read more here.

Wearing a face mask, a member of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment places flags in front of each headstone for "Flags-In" at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on May 21.

The coronavirus epidemic is far from over in the United States, with just 4% of Americans having been infected, according to a team of disease modelers at London’s Imperial College in the United Kingdom.

Even in the worst affected states, less than a quarter of the population has been infected, they wrote in a report, which was posted on the university’s website.

In New York, about 16.6% of people have been infected, compared to about 1% in California and less than 1% in Maine, the researchers said.  

“Our estimates suggest that the epidemic is not under control in much of the US,” they wrote, adding that “caution must be taken in loosening current restrictions if effective additional measures are not put in place.”

Only a few states appear to have epidemics under control. The researchers measured this by looking at the virus’ reproduction rate – a rate of 1 means each infected person is only transmitting the virus to one other person. The higher the rate, the more people are getting infected.

The states that have a rate of less than 1 include Montana, Hawaii, Wyoming, Alaska, West Virginia, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota and Maine.

States with the highest reproductions rates are Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio, according to the researchers. 

Masked cyclists ride past policemen blocked the cycling path leading to the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square as delegates arrive to attend the opening session of China's National People's Congress in Beijing on Friday.

The novel coronavirus has infected at least 5.1 million people worldwide, killing nearly 333,000. If you’re just joining us now, here are the latest developments on the pandemic:

Follow CNN’s live tracker of global cases here:

At least 25,294 new coronavirus cases and 1,263 related deaths were reported in the United States on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US has now recorded at least 1,577,147 Covid-19 infections and 94,702 fatalities linked to the virus. 

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

CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:

China begins its most important political event of the year today, following a two-month delay due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) will give Chinese leaders an opportunity to highlight their success in containing the virus and underscore the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, as it faces a growing international backlash over its initial handling of the crisis.

The annual gatherings will also reveal Beijing’s plans for how to revive an economy battered by the pandemic, which has led to the country’s first economic contraction after decades of continuous growth.

A new normal: Like everything else disrupted by the pandemic, this year’s NPC meetings will not be the same as usual. Still cautious about a potential second wave of coronavirus infections, the Chinese government is not taking preventive measures lightly.

At the opening ceremony on Friday morning, all delegates donned face masks, except more than two dozen senior leaders sitting in the front two rows on stage – including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

The congress will be truncated to just a week – about half of the usual duration. There will also be fewer news conferences, all of which will be held online via videoconferencing.

Only a select group of reporters will be allowed to cover the opening and closing ceremonies – after they pass coronavirus tests. But even for them, no public interviews will be allowed.

Read the full story:

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) arrives for the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 22, 2020.

Related article China prepares to stage parliamentary meeting as leaders look to send message of national unity

People wait in line to undergo coronavirus tests while keeping distance from each other at a makeshift clinic set up on a playground in Incheon, South Korea, on Wednesday, May 20.

South Korea reported 20 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

This raises the national total to 11,142 cases and 264 deaths.

Nightclub cluster: Authorities have been working for the past two weeks to respond to a new cluster in Seoul’s nightlife district of Itaewon.

After cases began emerging in early May, authorities used credit card records and cell phone data to track down, test, and quarantine people who may have been in the area.

So far, 207 cases have been linked to the cluster, and more than 77,000 related tests have been conducted, Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said today.

China will not set a specific target for economic growth this year, said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing. 

The NPC, China’s top legislature, opened its third session on Friday morning.

Not setting a specific target for economic growth would enable the government to focus more on achieving stability and security, he said.

Li added that China is expected to face great uncertain economic challenges following the pandemic, and that coronavirus was “the fastest spreading, most extensive, and most challenging public health emergency China has encountered since the founding of the People’s Republic.”

Some context: The world’s second largest economy has taken a huge hit from the virus, as lockdown measures brought much of the country to a halt from late January to March. 

China’s gross domestic product shrunk 6.8% in the first quarter this year – the worst plunge since quarterly records began in 1992.

The Chinese Communist Party has pledged to double the size of the economy from 2010 by the end of 2020 – a goal that could be difficult to reach in the fallout of the pandemic, as growth had already slowed due to a prolonged trade war with the United States.

Delegates applaud as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening session of China's National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping did not wear a face mask as China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, opened its third annual session today.

Xi was seen leading attendees of the NPC in a minute’s silence for people who died from coronavirus.

Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s second-in-command, then delivered a government work report. 

This year’s session was postponed for more than two months due to the pandemic. 

NPC members were tested for the virus before the event and the leadership were not seen wearing masks in Beijing today. 

Some context: The highly choreographed gatherings of the parliament and its advisory body have for decades been China’s most important annual political event, and an important stage of political performance.

This year, the session gives the country’s leaders an opportunity to highlight their success in containing the virus and underscore the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as lay out plans to revive the battered economy.

Workers carry the plastic-wrapped coffin of a patient who died from Covid-19 into the crematorium at San Cristobal Mausoleums in Ecatepec, Mexico State, on Thursday.

Mexico reported nearly 3,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday evening – the country’s biggest one-day jump in infections since the pandemic began.

The 2,973 new cases raise the national total to 59,567 – the third-highest in Latin America behind Brazil and Peru.

Mexico also reported an additional 420 fatalities, bringing the country’s death toll to 6,510. 

Mexicans will need to observe social distancing guidelines and stay home until at least May 31, when some parts of the economy will slowly reopen, said Deputy Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell, the epidemiologist leading the government’s Covid-19 response.

He specifically pointed to the state of Tabasco on Thursday, which recently experienced a surge in cases after some social distancing guidelines were relaxed in early May.

A sign on the outside of the CDC Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, February 13.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new guidance on its website that estimates that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic. 

The agency also says its “best estimate” is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and it estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick. 

In the guidance, intended for modelers and public health officials, the CDC outlines five potential scenarios. Four represent “the lower and upper bounds of disease severity and viral transmissibility.” The fifth is the CDC’s “current best estimate about viral transmission and disease severity in the United States.”

In that scenario, the agency describes its estimate that 0.4% of people who feel sick with Covid-19 will die. For people age 65 and older, the CDC puts that number at 1.3%. For people 49 and under, the agency says 0.05% of symptomatic people will die. It assumes that people without symptoms are every bit as infectious as those with symptoms.

The agency also estimates that 3.4% of symptomatic people with Covid-19 will require hospitalization, with that number rising to 7.4% in people 65 and older.

In the most severe scenario, the CDC assumes that 1% of people overall with Covid-19 and symptoms will die. In the least severe scenario, the CDC puts that number at 0.2%.

The agency also notes that its numbers could change as more is learned about Covid-19, and says they do not “reflect the impact of any behavioral changes, social distancing, or other interventions.” That would be relevant for some of the agency’s estimates, such as how many infections stem from each case.

With those caveats, the CDC said the new numbers are based on real data received before April 29. The CDC characterized them as preliminary estimates from federal agencies, including the CDC and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

US President Donald Trump announced that flags will be lowered to half-staff “over the next three days” to honor coronavirus victims.

In a subsequent tweet, Trump wrote that on Monday, “the flags will be at half-staff in honor of the men and women in our Military who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our Nation.”

Latin America has reported more new coronavirus cases than either the United States or Europe for three consecutive days, driven by high numbers in Brazil, Peru and Mexico, CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University and World Health Organization data shows.

The numbers: The region reported at least 32,854 new cases on Wednesday, with more than half of them in Brazil.

The US reported 22,534 new cases that day, according to JHU, while Europe – including Russia – reported about 17,900, according to the WHO. Both agencies rely on national governments for their data.

Latin America also reported more new cases than the US or Europe on Tuesday, CNN calculations show: At least 29,240 in Latin America, compared to 22,391 in the United States and about 19,200 in Europe.

And on Monday, Latin America reported at least 23,388 new infections, while the US reported 22,813 and Europe reported about 20,000.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

In this June 4, 2019, photo, Dana Nessel, Attorney General of Michigan, listens to a question from reporters in Detroit.

After US President Donald Trump refused to wear a mask in front of cameras during his visit to a Ford manufacturing plant on Thursday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel did not hold back in her condemnation.

“Today’s events were extremely disappointing and yet totally predictable,” Nessel told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during an interview.

On Tuesday, Ford said it had shared its safety policies with the White House – including that everyone wear a mask “in all facilities, at all times” – but added that “the White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination.”

Nessel said Trump’s failure to comply with the plant’s guidelines is consistent with his behavior to this point.

“The message he’s sent is the same message since he first took office in 2017, which is I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your health, I don’t care about your safety, I don’t care about your welfare, I don’t care about anyone but myself.”

Nessel also took issue with the Ford facility for seemingly bending the rules specifically for the commander-in-chief.

“They knew exactly what the order was and if they permitted anyone, even the President of the United States, to defy that order, I think it has serious health consequences potentially to their workers,” Nessel said.

She added: “The last thing we want to see is for this particular plant now to have to close its doors and shutter its doors again because someone may have been infected by the President. And that is a real possibility.”

Nessel had a message for her constituents: “Even if you don’t have a President of the United States that cares about the residents of this state, fortunately you have a governor and you have an attorney general who do. And we are going to do everything in our power to protect you, even if you have a President who won’t.”

Read more:

President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, May 15, 2020, in Washington.

Related article Michigan AG warns Trump to wear a mask during tour of Ford plant

Brazil recorded its highest number of deaths from coronavirus within 24 hours and surpassed 300,000 total cases, the country’s health ministry announced on Thursday.

The country reported 1,188 new deaths, bringing its total to 20,047 Covid-19-related fatalities.

Brazil’s total number of confirmed cases reached 310,087 on Thursday, up 18,508 from Wednesday, the ministry said.

Some context: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who once compared the virus to “a little flu,” sent a tweet on Wednesday about the new health ministry protocol regarding the use of chloroquine to treat mild and moderate cases of Covid-19.

Around 5% of United Kingdom antibody tests are positive, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said during a daily briefing on Thursday, citing a surveillance study conducted by the British government.

According to Hancock, the UK government’s antibody surveillance study has also shown that the percentage that tested positive for coronavirus antibodies in London is higher at 17%.

Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche, and American multinational medical devices and health care company Abbott will supply the UK government with 10 million coronavirus antibody tests, Hancock said.