June 1 coronavirus news

Medics at work in an Intensive Care ward treating coronavirus patients at Frimley Park Hospital, in Camberley, England, on May 22.

UK has recorded 119 more coronavirus deaths, the lowest daily increase since the stay-at-home order was implemented on March 23, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday. 

Another 1,570 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, which is also the lowest increase in infections since the end of March, Hancock added.

While these are the lowest figures for deaths and new infections recorded since late March, it’s important to note that Monday numbers tend to be lower because of a delay in reporting of data over the weekend.

The total number of people who have died with coronavirus in the UK now stands at 39,045, the health secretary added.

A total of 4.48 million tests have been carried out in the UK since the beginning of the crisis, with 128,437 conducted on Sunday.

“Anyone who needs a test will get a test,” Hancock said. 

He added the “we are getting the virus under control,” which is why “cautious steps” can be taken to lift some coronavirus restrictions. Hancock added that it’s still important to maintain social distancing.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquaters in Geneva, on March 9.

The World Health Organization on Monday said it hopes President Trump will not follow through with his decision to terminate the relationship between the United States and WHO.

“The US government’s and its’ people’s contribution and generosity toward global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world,” Tedros said. “It is WHO’s wish for this collaboration to continue.”

On Friday, Trump announced that the US will end its relationship with WHO, a move he has threatened throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Black Lives Matter protesters kneel in Times Square while marching to honor George Floyd in New York, on May 31.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the “mass gatherings” of protesters “could in fact exacerbate the Covid-19 spread.”

Speaking about the progress that the state has made against the coronavirus — going from 800 deaths per day to reopening in 50 days — Cuomo said, “don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

However, Cuomo said its very hard to say to people not to come out because of the pandemic, because he does not want it to be misconstrued with the notion that protesters’ concerns are not valid or heard. 

“It’s a very tough balance,” he said adding it is happening on an intense national scale and a the “outpouring of such pain and frustration.”

Similarly, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier that there is a “real danger” that the protests could intensify the spread of the virus “just at a point where we’re starting to beat it back profoundly.”

“I am very worried about the health impact,” de Blasio said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a daily news conference in New York, on June 1.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he expects the region of Western New York to move to Phase 2 of reopening tomorrow.

The governor said a group of “global experts” will go through the data to confirm.

A final announcement is expected later this afternoon.

Cuomo said the Capital region is on track to enter phase 2 on Wednesday.

In Phase 2, businesses considered “more essential” with lower risks of infection to workers and customers will be a priority, Cuomo previously said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a daily news conference in New York, on June 1.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that at least 54 people died yesterday in the state from coronavirus.

Noting the continued decline in daily deaths in the state, Cuomo said, “that number is dramatically different than what we were looking at for many many weeks.”

He said that hospitalizations, intubations, three day average of new hospitalizations in the state are all down, calling that “really good news.”

The coronavirus pandemic may be associated with a significant drop in cancer patients participating in clinical trials, especially in areas most affected by Covid-19, a new study suggests.

In an effort to reduce the risk of exposing patients and staff to the novel coronavirus and to preserve resources, some institutions in the United States have pulled back or altogether stopped enrollment in trials, according to the study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open on Monday.

The study included data on initial enrollments in trials conducted through the SWOG Cancer Research Network between January and April 25. 

The data showed that the number of cancer patients enrolling in trials declined from anywhere between 125 and 150 per week in January, February and early March to only 109 patients in the week of March 15. 

After that, enrollment appeared to go back up just slightly, then down again.

As the pandemic continued, trials in areas with some of the nation’s highest numbers of Covid-19 cases were “approximately half as likely” to continue enrolling patients, the researchers from various institutions across the United States wrote in the study.

The study also found that enrollment in trials studying cancer control and prevention decreased more than enrollment in trials studying cancer treatments.

Note on the study: The study had some limitations, including that it only involved data from the SWOG Cancer Research Network - which is 1 of 4 adult National Cancer Institute network groups.

More research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a larger sample of trials.

So far, “the National Cancer Institute and the US Food and Drug Administration have issued guidance to provide greater flexibility to ensure that patients enrolled in clinical trials are exposed to as little risk as possible during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the researchers wrote in the new study.

Those steps include allowing for remote consent and establishing virtual telehealth visits, which are “approaches that may improve the experience of trial participation for patients in the long term,” the researchers wrote.

Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Tom Frieden uses hand sanitizer during a hearing on Covid-19 Response before the Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee May 6, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. 

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Axios Health he thinks another 20,000 people could die from Covid-19 within the next month.

The stark estimate is based on the current number of cases in the US, he told the website.

Frieden said the CDC has been regulated to the backseat during this pandemic.

Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University told Axios, “I think people think we’ve come out of something,” but in reality, she said, “we hit pause, and now we’re hitting play, and we don’t know what the next song’s going to be.”  

 Men wearing face masks playing cards in a square amidst the coronavirus pandemic on May 7, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

The economic reopening of São Paulo state, the most populous in Brazil, starts today for sectors such as shopping malls, commerce, offices, real estate and car shops.

There are five phases for reopening, which will be adopted by the mayor of each city as they see fit based on the coronavirus situation in their jurisdictions.

However, the mayor for the capital city of São Paulo, Bruno Covas, extended the ban on nonessential activities there until June 15, contrary to the expectations of representatives of industry and commerce.

Some background: The state of São Paulo has been under quarantine since March 24. The state is the epicenter of Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak, with more than 100,000 confirmed virus cases and 7,615 deaths. 

Brazil is second only to the United States in its number of coronavirus cases.

Dr. Carissa Etienne, the director of the Pan American Health Organization, said earlier this week that the Americas have “become the epicenter of the Covid pandemic.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci leaves after the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the James Brady Briefing Room April 10 at the White House in Washington.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told STAT News that vaccine development isn’t a common topic of conversation with President Trump.

Fauci said when the White House Task Force was meeting every day, he’d also have meetings with Trump about four times a week.

“But as you probably noticed, that the task force meetings have not occurred as often lately. And certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased,” Fauci told the medical news website.

Fauci wasn’t impressed with how Moderna put out a press release on their vaccine data. “I didn’t like that,” he said.

“What we would have preferred to do, quite frankly, is to wait until we had the data from the entire Phase 1 — which I hear is quite similar to the data that they showed — and publish it in a reputable journal and show all the data.”

Nevertheless, the Moderna release did make him “cautiously optimistic.”

He’s also happy to see several other vaccines in development, including the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine, as well.

As Fauci has said before, the timetable for having a vaccine by the end of the year is “aspirational” but “doable.”

“The only thing that’s the big unknown to me is that, is it going to be effective? I think we could do it within the time frame that I’ve outlined. But there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be effective,” he said.

“Whether we do the trial over 10 years, or we do it over four months, the endpoint is still the same.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s worry-free. When asked if the prospect of an adverse reaction to the vaccine worries him, Fauci simply said, “Yes, I am.”

Russia on Monday reported at least 9,035 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24-hour period, with the official national total of confirmed cases reaching 414,878. 

Russia has reported 4,855 total deaths attributed to Covid-19, but observers have questioned the government’s mortality calculations.

Moscow began to ease lockdown on Monday, allowing the reopening of stores selling non-food items and permitting Muscovites to venture out for walks on a schedule.

Eli Lilly, AbCellera, and NIAID have worked together to create an antibody they think may help treat Covid-19.

Eli Lilly and Company said it has started the first human trial of an antibody therapy to treat the novel coronavirus. If the trial is successful, the therapy could be available by the fall, the company said.

The first patients to receive the therapy are in hospitals at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and Emory University in Atlanta, the company told CNN, and results are expected to be available by the end of June.

The antibody therapy was created through a partnership with AbCellera, a Canada-based biotech company and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Scientists at AbCellera and NIAID used a blood sample from one of the first US patients to recover from Covid-19 and sorted through millions of cells to find hundreds of antibodies. Antibodies are proteins your body makes to fight an infection or toxin. The scientists picked the antibodies they thought would best neutralize the novel coronavirus. In the lab, the antibody appeared to neutralize the virus, Lilly said. Those results have not yet been published.  

About the trial: Phase I of the trial in hospitalized patients will test to see if the therapy is safe and well-tolerateed. If so, the next trials would be expanded to Covid-19 patients that aren’t hospitalized and another study would test the therapy as prevention. The antibody therapy could potentially be used in vulnerable populations that may not respond as well to a vaccine, such as the elderly, people with underlying chronic conditions and people who are immunosuppressed who don’t always generate enough antibodies to be protected by a vaccine. 

In trials over the next few months, Lilly says it will also test different mixtures of a few other antibodies that may provide protection.

Prince Joachim of Belgium pictured in a file photo from July 2011.

Belgium’s Prince Joachim has publicly apologized after testing positive for the coronavirus in southern Spain. The 28-year-old royal had attended a social event with the family of a Spanish female friend there, his lawyer’s office confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Joachim, a nephew of Belgium’s King Philippe, traveled from Belgium to Spain on May 24. On May 26, he attended a social gathering in Cordoba with “12 or 27 guests,” the Belgian Palace’s press office said. Joachim tested positive for Covid-19 on May 28.

In a statement released by the Cordoba law office of Mariano Aguayo, the prince said:

Under Spain’s state of emergency, all travelers arriving in Spain from May 15, with few exceptions, are required to go into quarantine for two weeks. Under the confinement rules in place in Cordoba, gatherings of more than 15 people who don’t live together are not permitted. 

Authorities are now investigating if the event had more than 15 people in attendance, the spokeswoman for Rafaela Valenzuela, the Spanish government’s chief representative in Cordoba, told CNN Monday.

The spokeswoman added that regional health authorities had informed the Spanish government that there may have been up to 27 people at the event.

A spokeswoman for the prince’s law office told CNN there were two social events on consecutive days last week at which the prince was meeting with the family of a female friend, but neither event was attended by more than 15 people.

The prince is in isolation now, with mild symptoms from the coronavirus, said the law office spokeswoman.

Prince Joachim is the third child of Princess Astrid, the younger sister of Belgium’s serving King, according to the palace website.  

The numbers: Spain has been one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe by Covid-19, with more than 239,000 confirmed cases and more than 27,000 deaths. As the infection rate has declined, the government has slowly eased confinement restrictions, while focusing on early detection through increased testing and contract tracing, to quickly tamp down on any new outbreaks.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashynian speaks to the media prior to talks at the German Chancellery on February 13 in Berlin.

The Armenian Prime Minister has contracted the coronavirus, his press officer told CNN.

Nikol Pashinyan is able to work from a distance and is isolating with his family members who have also contracted the virus, said his press officer Mané Gevorgyan.

There are 9,492 confirmed cases and 139 coronavirus-related deaths in Armenia as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Owners of the restaurant Bianca prepare their terrace on the rue du Quatre Septembre on May 31 in Paris, as France eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the Covid-19.

Greece: From Monday, a limited number of international flights will be allowed to land in Athens. This will be widened from June 15, when visitors from 29 countries will be allowed to fly into the country’s two main airports in Athens and Thessaloniki. The list of countries will be extended again on July 1. Every arriving passenger must be tested for the virus and stay overnight at a designated hotel. Visitors who test negative must self-quarantine for 7 days, while those who test positive must spend 14 days under supervised quarantine. Restaurants and cafes across Greece resumed operations on May 25.

France: Cafes, bars, restaurants, beaches and lakes will reopen Tuesday. Gatherings must be limited to 10 people and the capacity of outdoor spaces will be limited to 5,000 people, under the condition that social distancing rules are enforced. Parks reopened Saturday.  

Italy: From June 3, travel restrictions to and from foreign countries will be lifted. People will be allowed to travel between regions.

Spain: From Monday, around 70% of the Spanish population will move to phase two of restriction easing, which allows meetings of up to 15 people from different households, some restaurant service indoors, and the opening of stores, cinemas and museums but with occupancy limits. Small islands in Spain’s Balearic and Canary Islands will advance to phase three, which eases even more restrictions. The Madrid region, which includes Spain’s capital and surrounding cities, will remain in phase one without any changes. 

Denmark: Tourists from Germany, Norway and Iceland will be able to enter Denmark starting June 15. Tourists must document that they have booked a stay of at least six overnights in Denmark.

England: From Monday, groups of up to six people can meet outdoors, including in gardens and other private outdoor spaces, provided strict social distancing guidelines are followed.  It’s possible to send children to school or nursery if they are in early years, reception, year 1 or year 6. Elite athletes can train and compete using the specified gyms, pools and sports facilities. Outdoor markets and car showrooms can reopen.

Wales: People from two different households will be able to meet each other outdoors.

Scotland: Household waste and recycling centers will reopen to the public from Monday. Teachers will be allowed to reenter schools on June 1 to begin preparations for schools reopening on August 11. Childcare services and outdoor nurseries will reopen from Wednesday with limits placed on the number of children that can be cared for.  

People protest in New York on June 1 over the death of George Floyd.

US officials have expressed their concern that coronavirus could rapidly spread during protests over the death of George Floyd.

People across America have taken to the streets to vent their frustrations over the seeming lack of value for the lives of black people in the same week the nation crossed the 100,000 death count from coronavirus.

Sunday alone saw an increase of almost 20,000 cases, according to the CNN count compiled with data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of Monday morning at least 1,790,191 Americans have contracted the virus and 104,383 have died. But some expect a jump in cases following days of demonstrations.

With large groups of people protesting, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he expects a sharp increase in cases of Covid-19 in his state.

Officials in New York shared the governor’s worry about a potential for rise in coronavirus among protesters.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that while people have the right to protest, even during a pandemic, they also have a duty to protect the health of themselves and others.

He told people to “demonstrate with a mask on,” and noted how the coronavirus has highlighted longstanding health disparities for the black community.

“The coronavirus crisis has created a depth of pain that still has not been accounted for. So many New Yorkers have lost someone but that is particularly true in communities of color and particularly true in the African American community,” Cuomo said. “That loss is being felt so deeply because every knows it’s not based on equality … communities of color lost so much more.”

Read more:

Demonstrators gathered to protest the death of George Floyd near the White House Sunday.

Related article Concerns for coronavirus spreading rapidly during protests shared by government leaders and health experts

People enjoy the sunshine at Victoria Park in east London on May 30.

Health officials across the world have issued warnings that some countries could be relaxing their coronavirus lockdowns too early, raising the chances of new waves of infection.

As the rules were eased in the UK on Monday, the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) said it was “increasingly concerned that the government is misjudging this balancing act and lifting too many restrictions, too quickly.”

ADPH president Jeanelle de Gruchy said leading scientists and public health experts believed that recent national policy announcements in England – including reopening schools and non-essential businesses and allowing more social contact – were not “supported by the science.”

Prof Sally Bloomfield, Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the lifting of so many measures at once “does not look like gently lifting the lid” and meant that if the situation deteriorates, a full lockdown will need to be reimposed.

Dr Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor at the University of Leeds’ School of Medicine, said the relaxing of measures for the most at-risk “appears to have little grounding in reality.”

Other countries reopening: Moscow will also begin to gradually ease some coronavirus lockdown restrictions starting Monday.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that the Russian capital would allow some non-essential businesses to reopen and scheduled walks.

“I’m just afraid that the streets of Moscow will be like the Labor Day holiday, so we will begin in a test mode,” he said.

Russia’s official number of Covid-19 deaths has been relatively low compared to countries with similar numbers of overall infections, but observers have questioned official counting methods that permit ascribing deaths in patients who tested positive for coronavirus to other chronic conditions. 

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte also approved a recommendation to relax Covid-19 lockdown measures in the capital Manila from Monday, according to CNN Philippines.

According to CNN Philippines, this decision is also in line with the recommendation of all 17 mayors of Metro Manila who would like to see nonessential businesses reopen to help restart the ailing economy.

When disaster strikes, state emergency officials prepare for the worst-case scenarios. But most plans don’t include a hurricane season coinciding with a ravaging pandemic that drains resources and shows no signs of slowing down.

As hurricane season officially starts Monday, Florida and other states along the Atlantic coast are faced with the daunting reality, and are rewriting nearly every aspect of their storm preparedness.

With predictions of a busy hurricane season, officials are changing their pleas from remain indoors to combat coronavirus – to leave home and go to shelters when asked to evacuate.

Read more:

Tom Walsh, of Myrtle Beach Parks and Recreation, removes a downed Palmetto tree as Tropical Storm Bertha lashes the South Carolina coast on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Jason Lee/The Sun News via AP)

Related article How cities along the US coast are preparing for a hurricane season like no other

I sat down to write this story at 10 a.m.

10:05: Younger daughter asks for a snack.

10:10: She gets logged out of her online learning program and needs help logging back in.

10:12: Elder daughter asks why her sister has a snack and she doesn’t.

10:15: Younger daughter asks for another snack. Request denied.

10:47: “Mummy, I’m bored.”

And on it goes. Most of these requests are addressed to me even though my husband is also working from home and we’ve taken turns “running interference” in two-hour slots while the kids are off school.

Parenting these past few months has been immensely hard for both mothers and fathers, with the pandemic putting unprecedented demands on families around the world. But as we mark UN Global Day of Parents on June 1, it’s clear that it’s moms that are doing most of the heavy lifting and may ultimately end up paying the biggest price.

Mothers are only able to do one hour of uninterrupted work for every three hours done by dads, according to new research from the United Kingdom that also found mothers taking on more chores and spending more time with children in homes where there is both a working mother and father.

Before lockdown in the UK, mothers completed on average around 60% of the uninterrupted work hours that fathers did. That’s now diminished to a third.

What’s more, mothers are more likely than fathers to have left paid work and seen a bigger reduction in their hours. Among those doing paid work at home, mothers are more likely than fathers to be spending their work hours simultaneously trying to care for children.

Read more:

Sonia Maestre (C) conforts her twins Cristina (R) and Alvaro while she works at home in Palma de Mallorca on May 19, 2020, during the national lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease. - Sonia,42, is a single mother that works from home as a state official while she takes care of her children. Spain began last week a three-phase plan to end lockdowns for half the country by the end of June. The lockdown measures initially imposed were among the strictest in Europe. (Photo by JAIME REINA / AFP) (Photo by JAIME REINA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Mothers are still doing most of the parenting during a pandemic

Public health authorities in Germany said Monday that 333 new coronavirus infections have been identified in the past 24 hours.

Eleven deaths were reported during that time, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s agency for disease control and prevention.

Total cases: At least 181,815 people have contracted the virus in Germany, 8,511 of whom have died, according to the RKI.

A fruit vendor waits for customers in New Delhi on May 31.

The chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, said India’s capital territory will seal its borders for the next week to stop the spread of novel coronavirus.

However, Kejriwal said the new restriction would not stop the movement of essential goods and services across the city’s borders.

All shops across the city will be allowed to open every day, but a curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. in accordance with guidelines issued by the Indian government. All industries will be allowed to operate, but with a staggered workforce.

Kejriwal also said that hair salons and barbers will be allowed to operate but spas will not reopen yet. The government has also removed restrictions on public and private transport and on the number of passengers who can travel in a car or autorickshaw.

States adjoining New Delhi will continue to only allow minimal movement across their borders, but government officials will be able to travel so long as they present proper identification.

South Korean public health officials said at least 23 newly identified coronavirus cases are tied to 13 small churches – 11 small parishes in the city of Incheon, west of Seoul, and two churches in Gyeonggi province, which surrounds the South Korean capital.

One of the 23 patients, a man in his 70s, was confirmed to have contracted the virus on May 20 and died four days later. Another septuagenarian in the church cluster is in critical condition, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Updates on two other clusters: Most of the 4,360 people tied to a a logistics center in Bucheon, a satellite city near Seoul, have been tested for the virus, according to Jung Eun-kyeong, the director of the KCDC. Authorities say 112 cases of Covid-19 have been identified in that cluster.

Scores of cases have also been linked to Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul. Jung said Monday that authorities have now identified 270 coronavirus patients tied to that outbreak – 96 of whom visited the clubs and 174 who contracted the virus after being in close contact with confirmed cases.

Hitachi aims to make working-from-home standard practice from April 2021.

Japanese electronics giant Hitachi announced last week that it will aim to make working-from-home the new normal from April 2021, surprising many in Japan – a country famous for its demanding work culture, where “salarymen” clock in up to 80 hours a week.

Hitachi said it will give employees 3,000 yen ($28) a month to buy masks and sanitizers, while it will also look to help employees pay for furniture, WiFi and monitors so they can improve their work-from-home environments.

The tech conglomerate’s eventual goal is to have 70% of its workforce – about 23,000 people – work remotely for two or three days a week.

A worker cleans the food counter at a cinema in Bangkok on June 1.

Thailand will ease some of its coronavirus-related restrictions from today, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s office has announced.  

The new rules include:

An infrared thermography device used to check body temperature at the Tocho-mae station in Tokyo on March 5.

Thermal imaging cameras are expected to play a big part as Japan begins to reopen following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Retailers in Tokyo are embracing the technology as a way to quickly scan multiple customers for fevers.

The iconic 109 department store in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district reopened today equipped with thermal imaging cameras at its entrance, while Isetan Mitsukoshi’s flagship department store opened over the weekend with thermal cameras at its entrances.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has announced that it will set aside 4.2 billion yen ($39 million) to help schools adopt the technology.

Passengers wearing face masks wait outside a railway station before boarding a train in Secunderabad on June 1.

Indian health authorities say 8,392 new coronavirus patients were registered in the past 24 hours – the highest number of cases identified in a single day since the pandemic began.

The previous high, 8,380 cases, was recorded yesterday.

The country has now confirmed at least 190,535 cases of Covid-19, killing at least 5,394 people.

Maharashtra, which is home to the cities of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, has recorded 67,655 confirmed cases – more than any other state in India.

Jyoti Pawar, 40, starts her day early when the sun is still low in Walhe, a village in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

She’s racing to beat the midday heat and a government-issued deadline to visit 30 to 40 households before noon.

Wearing a standard-issue pink jacket and a homemade cloth mask, she goes door to door, checking for cases of Covid-19.

Pawar is one of more than a million Accredited Social Health Activists – or ASHA workers – Indian women who act as a liaison between people and the public health care system in rural areas. It’s considered the largest community health worker program in the world. In Hindi, ASHA means “hope.”

The government considers ASHAs voluntary community health providers and pays them a monthly amount of Rs. 2,000 ($26.40), though in some states they can earn as much as Rs. 6,000 ($79.25) with additional task-based incentives, though the work is sporadic and unpredictable.

For years, ASHA workers and the unions that represent them have been pushing for more recognition – and pay.

They say the coronavirus pandemic shows how important they are to India’s health system, yet as voluntary workers they’re not entitled to benefits like health care, insurance, paid leave, nor pensions.

Read more:

Rohini Pawar notes down details of brick kiln workers.

Related article India's rural healthcare workers push for more coronavirus pay

A clinical laboratory technician wearing protective gear carries out PCR testing for the novel coronavirus at Hokkaido University Hospital in Hokkaido on May 15.

Japan recorded 33 new coronavirus infections and one virus-related death on Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry.

The new cases bring Japan’s nationwide total to 17,597 confirmed cases and 905 fatalities. Of those, 712 cases and 13 deaths were tied to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Tokyo recorded five new patients on Sunday – the first time in six days that the number of new cases there was below double digits. The Japanese capital is currently in step two of its coronavirus recovery plan, which means that schools and some commercial facilities are allowed to reopen.

At least 19,788 new coronavirus cases and 600 virus-related deaths were identified in the United States on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The national total now stands at 1,790,191 reported infections, including at least 104,381 deaths.

These numbers 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:

A health worker administers a swab at a temporary coronavirus testing centre in Bucheon, South Korea, on May 27.

South Korean health authorities identified 35 new coronavirus cases on Sunday – all but five of which were locally transmitted.

Of those, 24 are linked to religious group gatherings, the South Korean health ministry said at a briefing on Monday. The ministry did not specify whether those cases are tied to a single group or multiple groups.

South Korea has been widely praised by public health experts as a model for how governments should respond to the novel coronavirus. Seoul’s emphasis on widespread testing and contact tracing has helped the country keep the number of total confirmed cases to fewer than 12,000, including 271 deaths.

Though the worst of the epidemic in the country appears to be over, several new clusters have been identified in recent weeks. One of the most recent emerged at a logistics center in Bucheon, a satellite city near Seoul. Authorities say 112 cases of Covid-19 have been identified in connection with that cluster, while thousands are currently under quarantine.

There is concern that the cases tied to the religious group gatherings this weekend could be the first signs of a new cluster.

It’s past midnight in Rio de Janeiro and approaching 9 a.m. in New Delhi. If you’re just tuning in, here are the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic that you may have missed:

Jennie Stejna enjoys a cold one to celebrate beating Covid-19.

A 103-year-old Massachusetts woman who recovered from Covid-19 celebrated with a favorite drink – a cold beer, her family told CNN.

When Jennie Stejna tested positive for coronavirus in late April, her family began preparing for the worst, granddaughter Shelley Gunn said.

At one point, her family was told that Stejna had stopped eating and drinking and might not make it through the night. They called her for one last goodbye, Gunn said.

When Gunn’s husband, a US Navy retiree, asked Stejna if she was ready to pass away, she responded “Hell yeah,” according to the family.

“She’s always been a feisty woman,” Gunn said.

But instead of a grim phone call from Stejna’s nursing home, on May 8 they received the news that she had tested negative, and was symptom-free, the family said.

The nursing home staff honored Stejna’s perseverance with one of her favorite treats – an ice-cold beer.

“I think it’s given everyone a smile and some hope, while it’s dark days for everybody,” Gunn said.

Stranded migrant laborers prepare to board a special train to Bihar after the government eased a nationwide lockdown in Chennai, India, on May 30.

Multiple states and territories throughout India will today begin lifting some coronavirus-related lockdown measures as part of the country’s phased reopening plan.

As of today:

The official first phase of the plan, dubbed “Unlock 1,” doesn’t actually begin until June 8. During this phase, places of worship, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and other hospitality services can reopen.

Under phase two of the plan, educational, training and coaching institutions, including schools and colleges, will be opened after consultations with states and union territories.

Dates for restarting international air travel for passengers, except as permitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, resuming metro rail services and reopening movie theaters, gyms, swimming pools, entertainment parks, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places will be decided in phase three.

No exact dates were provided for the start of phases two and three.

Cases spike: India recorded 8,380 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most in a 24-hour period in the country since the global pandemic began.

To date, India has confirmed more than 190,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 5,400 virus-related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Health care workers at the Straub Medical Center with the donated tuna poke bowls.

When five Hawaii fishermen took to sea, they had one goal in mind: feeding their local health care workers.

One of the fishermen was Kyle Nakamoto, the executive producer of the diving show Hawaii Skin Diver TV, who told CNN the lucky group caught two yellowfin tuna totaling 220 pounds.

The massive tuna was sent to a seafood distributor who cleaned, cooked, and prepared the tuna into more than 300 poke bowls, which were then delivered to Honolulu’s Straub Medical Center and The Queen’s Medical Center.

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Related article A group of fishermen in Hawaii caught 220-pounds of tuna and donated it to health care workers

Chinese health authorities said 16 new cases of novel coronavirus were identified throughout mainland China on Sunday.

All of the cases were imported from abroad, according to the National Health Commission.

Some 16 new asymptomatic patients were also identified; China records these cases in a separate category to symptomatic cases.

Mainland China’s total numbers:

Brazil has reported 16,409 cases of novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 514,849.

Brazil is second only to the United States in its number of coronavirus cases.

Dr. Carissa Etienne, the director of the Pan American Health Organization, said earlier this week that the Americas have “become the epicenter of the Covid pandemic.”

Brazil also recorded 480 new coronavirus-related fatalities over the past 24 hours, according to its health ministry, raising the overall death toll to 29,314.

Brazil has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus deaths globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rides Balmoral Fern, a 14-year-old Fell Pony, in Windsor Home Park, west of London, over the weekend of May 30 and May 31.

Queen Elizabeth II has been pictured riding a pony on the grounds of Windsor Castle, in her first photographed appearance since the coronavirus lockdown started in the UK.

The 94-year-old Queen has been a passionate horse lover throughout her reign and was photographed over the weekend riding one of her ponies, a 14-year-old Fell Pony called Balmoral Fern. On Sunday, the Royal Family’s verified Twitter page posted photos of the Queen riding.

The Queen has made two televised addresses during the lockdown, the first assuring those in isolation that “we will meet again” and the other to mark VE Day.

A pharmacy tech holds a pill of Hydroxychloroquine at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20.

The United States has delivered 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine and will soon send 1,000 ventilators to Brazil, according to a joint statement from both countries.

The statement reads in part, “HCQ will be used as a prophylactic to help defend Brazil’s nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals against the virus. It will also be used as a therapeutic to treat Brazilians who become infected.”

This comes after the World Health Organization announced it has temporarily halted studying hydroxychloroquine as a potential Covid-19 treatment due to safety concerns. The decision was made after an observational study published in the medical journal The Lancet described how seriously ill Covid-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die.

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of clinical trials and that there are currently no published studies on using the drug as a prophylaxis, or preventative treatment.

The statement also announces the formation of a joint research effort to help combat coronavirus in the two countries. 

The US and Brazil are the two countries with the highest confirmed number of coronavirus cases worldwide.

A doctor examines COVID-19 patients at Regional Hospital of Loreto Felipe Arriola Iglesias on May 20 in Iquitos, Peru.

The number of coronavirus cases in Peru rose to 164,476 on Sunday, an increase of 8,805 from the previous day, according to the country’s health ministry.

The spike follows a trend of increasing new cases in recent days, which have seen Peru go from reporting about 4,000 to more than 7,000 new cases each day.

The country also reported 135 new coronavirus-related fatalities, taking the national death toll to 4,506, according to the ministry.

The capital city of Lima has the largest concentration of infections, according to the health ministry, which reported on Sunday that the city has recorded 100,526 virus cases.

Peru has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in Latin America, behind Brazil.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi speaks at UN headquarters on September 27, 2019, in New York City.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on India’s people to be careful and take precautions such as using face masks and maintaining social distancing in public as the country prepares to ease its nationwide lockdown from Monday.

Modi, giving his monthly radio address, praised India’s tackling of Covid-19, especially in light of its large population. India is the world’s second most populous nation after China.

The country has endured suffering, but everyone is resolved to continue handling it, Modi said.

He also applauded charity groups, including NGOs and volunteer organizations, saying a commitment to serving people in need was part of India’s ethos and that the country had displayed this, especially amid the pandemic.

Modi also addressed the migrant crisis that the country has faced amid the nationwide lockdown, saying no section of the country was untouched by the current situation. Migrants, poor people, and laborers are the worst impacted.

Victory over the coronavirus pandemic will also depend on innovation, Modi said. The road to victory over coronavirus is long and the world has not experienced anything like this ever before, he added.

He also mentioned other recent crises to have impacted the nation, including Cyclone Amphan and locust swarms, and promised all possible assistance to those affected.

India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a three-phase plan to lift current lockdown restrictions, starting Monday.

People enjoy a gondola ride on May 30 in Venice, Italy.

Despite four weeks of loosened restrictions, the number of Covid-19 cases in Italy continue to decline.

The number of active cases of coronavirus decreased by more than 1,600 over a 24-hour period, according to figures released by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency on Sunday.

The statement said that there has been a decrease of at least 1,616 cases since Saturday’s figures, bringing the total number to approximately 42,075.

The Covid-19 death toll in the country currently stands at approximately 33,415 – an increase of 75 deaths due to the virus since Saturday, according to the agency.