July 7 coronavirus news

Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann speaks at a flag retirement ceremony on July 1 in Jackson, Mississippi.

Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has tested positive for Covid-19, his staff said, CNN affiliate WAPT reported Tuesday.

Staff members in Hosemann’s office said Hosemann told state Senate members he is positive for the virus, according to WAPT.

On Sunday, Mississippi’s House Speaker Philip Gunn said via Facebook that he also tested positive for Covid-19 after coming in contact a few days ago with a House member who had tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, Gov. Tate Reeves announced earlier on Tuesday that he and his daughters tested negative for the virus, tweeting they had “limited contact with the people who were diagnosed.” 

The governor’s press office declined to comment when asked if Hosemann tested positive and CNN also reached out to his office but has not heard back.

A healthcare worker conducts a coronavirus test at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on July 2.

Texas reported 10,028 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day increase in coronavirus cases in the state.

The state has a total of 210,585 coronavirus cases and at least 2,715 people have died from the virus. 

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

The University of Washington has extended its projection of how many people are likely to die from coronavirus in the US to November 1, predicting at least 208,255 deaths by then, based on the current scenario.   

But if 95% of the population wears a mask in public, that number would drop to approximately 162,808, the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said Tuesday.

Last week, the IHME forecasted about 175,168 total deaths by October 1, based on the current scenario. But if almost everyone wears a face mask, that number would fall to just over 150,000.

How the modeling works: The current model includes forecasts that anticipate the re-imposition of strong social distancing mandates when deaths per day reach a level of eight per one million people, combined with widespread mask adoption, versus an approach that takes no preventive action. For instance, strong social distancing measures in Florida could cut 6,173 deaths there by October 1. 

The model continues to predict a serious uptick in deaths and cases starting in mid- to late September and October. The projections could change if there is another surge in infections among at-risk populations. Currently, states report they are detecting an increasing number of cases in younger people, who have a lower risk of death, IHME said.

Some context: So far, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than 2.96 million Americans have been diagnosed with coronavirus infections and at least 130,902 have died. 

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said that for the first time in months, there were no Covid-19-related fatalities in the state over the past 24 hours.

Lamont also said it puts the state “in a very good standing compared to just about any state in the country.” 

Lamont said the state did 6,000 tests Monday and is at a 1% positivity rate.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event with students, teachers and administrators about how to safely re-open schools on July 7 in Washington, DC.

President Trump said the US is “not closing, we’ll never close,” as he once again pushed the country to fully reopen on Tuesday.

“We’re at 130,” Trump said at an event on reopening schools, referring to the more than 130,000 Americans who have now died from the virus. “I think we could have been 2 and a half or 3 million people,” he said. 

“We’ve saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives,” the President said.

Trump was responding to an event attendee who was advocating for what sounded like a modified herd immunity. She talked about protecting “the vulnerable,” while pushing “interaction that helps to get that immunity” for others. 

“Now we’re open,” Trump said. “The vulnerable, we understand who has the biggest problem with it, and we watch that group and that age group, and also people who aren’t feeling so well.” 

He said the US has “really done it right” and now is the time to stay open, adding, “we will put out the fires as they come up but we have to open our schools.”

He went on to admit that some places will “have difficulty and they’ll do what they have to do.” 

“That will be largely up to the governors,” he said, emphasizing the word largely, “but it’s also, they’re in very strong consultation with us.” 

Trump earlier in the event said he was going to put pressure on governors to reopen their schools. 

Additional medical help is coming to the San Antonio-area to assist with the rising number of hospitalizations due to Covid-19, according to the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council. 

Executive Director Eric Epley said there are 39 medical personnel from varying medical background and disciplines from Fort Carson, Colorado, coming to help staff area hospitals. An additional 200 RNs are being assigned to San Antonio, the Texas Department of State Health Services said on Monday. 

University Hospital spokesperson Leni Kirkman told CNN the staff has been stretched thin for the past few weeks and the additional help is “a big relief here.” 

She said that it’s easy to convert operating beds into ICU beds, but the hard part is actually getting the additional personnel to staff them.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a press conference Monday evening there are 1,168 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the city and that hospital bed availability is currently at 12%.

Bexar County has seen a 25% increase in positive cases over the past week, according to the DSHS, with 15,102 total cases reported since the start of the pandemic.  

The city is experiencing a very recent slowdown in new cases, but officials are saying it’s too early to tell if the cases are plateauing.

“It remains to be seen if this decline is going to be sustained,” said Dr. Anita Kurian, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District’s assistant director, at a press conference Monday night. 

As CNN previously reported, the US military announced Monday it is sending approximately 50 medical and support personnel to the San Antonio area.

US stocks ended in the red on Tuesday, pulling back after the prior session’s rally. Worries about rising Covid-19 infections across America weighed on the market.

Here’s where the market closed:

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx attends a press briefing in April in Washington, DC.

China’s delay in disseminating basic information at the start of the pandemic affected the global response to Covid-19, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Tuesday.

“One quick comment on China… I have to say if we had known about the level of asymptomatic spread, I think we would have all looked at this differently,” Birx said at an online event put on by the Atlantic Council to discuss the shaping the post-Covid world.  

“And I think, not figuring that out until the depth of that asymptomatic disease — we always knew it was 15 to 20% but finding out that it’s 40 or more percent — I think if we had known that, and that’s usually the initial country’s responsibility to really get out information about the spectrum of disease, and I think that did delay across the board our ability to really see or look for this,” she said.

On the whole, Birx praised the international community’s willingness to get information out and to cooperate on therapeutics and the vaccine effort. 

The San Francisco Giants have suspended Tuesday’s planned summer camp workout session due to a delay in receiving Covid-19 testing results.

Three other Major League Baseball teams, the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Nationals, were forced to halt their practices on Monday while waiting on coronavirus test results. 

“The Giants are suspending workouts at Oracle Park, pending the results of tests conducted this past weekend,” the Giants said in a statement.

CNN has reached on to MLB on the issue.

On Monday, the league said the delay in testing results for the previous three teams was due to the July 4 holiday delivery disruptions.

In response to surges in coronavirus cases, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday the launch of new testing sites in three hotspots — Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Edinburg, Texas. The sites will offer 5,000 tests per city each day, according to an HHS press release. 

On a call with reporters Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir acknowledged that wait times for test results at commercial labs are generally increasing, though he said the US is now doing an “unprecedented” level of tests and is averaging more than 600,000 per day.

Three large testing labs have reported increased wait times for test results.

Giroir said test turnaround times in Montana and the District of Columbia are averaging four to five days, whereas other states have shorter average waits. 

“The most critical factor is personal discipline. It’s the physical distancing, wear a mask, avoid crowds,” Giroir said.  

Giroir said greater availability of rapid “point of care” tests in comings months should lower the burden on some laboratories. He said he expects that by August or September, the point-of-care test market will grow to 10 to 20 million tests per month, though he said such tests are slightly less sensitive than lab-based tests. 

Arkansas saw the largest jump in hospitalizations for a single day with 32 people hospitalized, bringing the statewide total to 369, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during a news conference Tuesday. 

The state reported at least 24,512 cases of coronavirus and at least 301 deaths, according to Hutchinson. Additionally, the state reported at least 259 new cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths over the last 24 hours.

Hutchinson also said new unemployment claims are trending downward.

“We’ve dispersed about $330 million dollars as a state so we are seeing those funds move, and hopefully that’s getting into the pockets of those who needed it, so desperately,” said Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston.

Preston added that Arkansas is seeing an uptick in unemployment identify fraud, with 14,000 accounts flagged within the pandemic unemployment cases, and another 6,000 in regular unemployment fraud. 

He added that they are investigating these unemployment fraud cases.

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx attends a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's Schools," event at the White House on July 7 in Washington, DC.

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Tuesday that several aspects of the coronavirus pandemic remain surprising and unusual. 

“I think what surprised all of us in the developed world is how much of an impact this virus, and this respiratory pandemic, is having disproportionately on high income and upper-middle income countries,” Birx said at an online event put on by the Atlantic Council to discuss the shaping the post-Covid world. 

Birx also said no one anticipated the community spread in the 18- to 35-year-old age group. 

“I think that this is an age group that was so good and so disciplined through March and April, but when they saw people out and about on social media, they all went out and about. So, we right now have a really significant cases in people under 45,” she said.

A World Health Organization sign is seen outside of their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in April.

The head of the United Nations Foundation is calling the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization a “short-sighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous” move.

The Trump administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it is formally withdrawing the United States from WHO amid the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump initially announced his intention to withdraw from WHO in May and now it appears that decision is moving forward.

“The U.S. already has more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than any country in the world, and as cases continue to surge in hotspots at home and abroad it’s painfully clear that this pandemic is far from over,” the statement added.

Cousens said that WHO was created with US leadership nearly 75 years ago.

“As the world faces the global emergency of COVID-19, we need to strengthen, not weaken, the bonds of international cooperation and solidarity,” Cousens said in the statement. “Now, more than ever before, the world needs to unite with common purpose and work shoulder to shoulder to emerge from these challenging times stronger and more united than ever before. This is not a time to retreat, it’s a time for leadership.”

Nurses transfer a coronavirus patient to the Critical Patients Unit, at Barros Luco Hospital on June 24 in Santiago, Chile.

Chile has surpassed 300,000 recorded cases of Covid-19, according to data released by health authorities on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health reported 2,462 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 301,019.

Tuesday’s increase of daily new cases represents 0.82%, the lowest rate of increase on daily new cases since early May, according to CNN’s tally. 

Chile’s death toll due to the virus stands at 6,434, with 50 new deaths, according to the same data. 

Tuesday’s numbers represent a continuous trend of “hopeful figures” and a positive improvement “over the last 23 days,” Chile’s Minister of Health Enrique Paris said.

With the positive data, Chile is now considering its reopening strategies, Paris added. 

“Work is being done and different experts will be taken into consideration to work on a lockdown-easing strategy,” Paris explained.

Chile’s increase in the total number of cases is approximately 25% lower in the last week than the previous week.

President Donald Trump attends an event with students, teachers and administrators about how to safely re-open schools at the White House on July 7 in Washington, DC.

President Trump said Tuesday he will “put pressure on governors” to reopen schools in the fall. 

“We hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said at a White House event on reopening schools safely.

“We don’t want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” he said. “No way.”

Pedestrians walk through in the nightlife district of Itaewon on May 12 in Seoul, South Korea.

A decision to reopen nightclubs in an entertainment district of Seoul led to an outbreak of at least 246 cases of coronavirus in South Korea in May, researchers found.

Officials decided to open clubs in the Itaewon district for the Golden Week holiday, which runs from April 30 to May 5, because the pandemic had started to plateau there.

But starting May 6, officials started noticing cases among people who had been to the clubs. The clubs were closed again and the Seoul Municipal Government began testing people, the research team reported in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Using cell phone location data, credit card records and nightclub visitor lists, the researchers in Seoul identified 5,517 people for screening. They monitored 1,257 of those people and an additional 57,375 people who had spent 30 minutes or more in the vicinity of the clubs were encouraged to be tested.

The government worried there could be problems testing. As the media reported that the venues at the epicenter of the outbreak were gay nightclubs, rumors began that the outbreak started among gay men. Gay South Korean men often experience prejudice and stigmatization, and can be unwilling to reveal their sexual identity, the researchers said. 

Because of this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government consulted with sexual-minority groups to discuss ways to encourage testing. Their solution was anonymous testing, with the only information required from patients being their cell phone numbers. 

By May 25, the team identified at least 246 confirmed nightclub-associated cases. They found 39% of the cases were in people who had visited the clubs themselves, and the rest were in contacts of those people. Cases were found in Seoul and further out into the community and country. 

President Donald Trump speaks during an event with students, teachers and administrators about how to safely re-open schools in the East Room at the White House July 7 in Washington, DC.

Ahead of today’s roundtable discussion at the White House, the largest teachers union in the United States issued a statement sharply criticizing President Trump’s call to reopen school buildings.

In a statement, Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, said, “the reality is no one should listen to Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos when it comes to what is best for students.”

NEA’s president added Trump and DeVos have “zero credibility for how to best support students,” adding “America must listen to the health experts on when to reopen schools and to educators on how to return to in-person instruction.”

Gov. Mike DeWine advised Ohioans it’s “probably not the best time to go to some of these hot spots.”

“We have spread Ohio, we’re not denying that, we have a serious situation in Ohio,” he said on Tuesday.

Asked about whether travel from other states, such as Florida, is affecting the spread, the governor said it was hard to determine exactly what impact it has had. 

He said ultimately depends on what people do on those trips, the situation they are in and whether travel has had impact.

Some background: DeWine announced the Department of Health will be implementing a mask mandate to seven counties, starting Wednesday.

“We feel have a huge, imminent crisis,” he said, adding the mask order is “the most pinpointed thing we can do.”

“If 75% or 80% of people in the state of Ohio would wear a mask when they are out, we would dramatically kick this virus in the stomach,” he added.

An man wears a face mask while cleaning an outdoor dining table at a restaurant in San Francisco, California, on June 18.

The reopening of indoor dining restaurants and outdoor bars, originally scheduled for July 13, will be delayed, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced at a press conference Tuesday.

San Francisco has seen a 25% increase in Covid-19 cases over the past week and reported at least 4,020 total cases in the city today.

Breed said if health officials see the number of cases stabilize or decline in any way, they will reconsider the closures and begin the process of determining what businesses can open. 

San Francisco’s health officials are also currently evaluating other businesses that had been proposed to reopen between June 29 and July 13, including hair salons, barber shops, indoor museums, outdoor pools, gyms, real estate open houses by appointment, and zoos, as part of their phase 2C reopening.

An update on the status of reopening these businesses will be provided by the end of the week, officials said.

“We’ll continue to make decisions based on the data and the situation in our city, and in the meantime, we all need to do our part to keep each other safe and healthy,” Breed said in a statement. “That means wearing face coverings, keeping your distance from others, and getting tested.”

Coronavirus hospitalizations in California are reaching new levels, with nearly 6,000 Covid-19 patients.

This is a 3.4% one-day increase as almost 200 more patients were admitted. There are also a record number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, according to data from California Department of Public Health.

CDPH is recording at least 6,448 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, adding 111 fatalities in today’s report.

The positivity rate in California over the past two weeks stands at 6.8% with about 4.9 million tests conducted to date.

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

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he doesn’t anticipate a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate in the United States. 

Fauci gave an example during the flu season, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center administration mandates he get a flu shot in order to see his patients, but he said that’s different than a national or federal mandate.

“That has not happened ever — to my knowledge — at a national level or even at a state level,” he said. 

“I don’t see it on a national level, merely because of all the situations you have encroaching upon a person’s freedom to make their own choice of their own health,” Fauci added. 

The Ohio Department of Health will be issuing an order effective 6 p.m. tomorrow night that people must wear a mask in public in seven counties, Gov. Mike DeWine said. 

“Primarily this will be when they are in a public place, inside, a restaurant a bar, jewelry store, some other place in public,” he said. 

The order will be effective so long as the county remains at a red level, or purple level.

Red indicates level three risk – very high exposure and spread. Purple indicates level four rise – severe exposure and spread. 

While this is aimed at a specific seven counties, the governor encourages people in other counties to wear a mask as well so their cases do not rise, though it is not required.

Masks will be required to be worn:

This does not apply to children under the age of 10 or others who cannot safely wear a face covering. The order extends previously exceptions in existence in regard to the requirement that people wear a mask while at work.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine walks into his daily coronavirus news conference at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio on April 16.

Ohio reported 948 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours — a number that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says is “down a little bit” from where it’s been “but certainly is up significantly from where it was three weeks ago.”

That is above the 21-day average of 804 which continues to increase “as these numbers continue to go up,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. 

The deaths are up over the average, with 43 reported in the last 24 hours, DeWine said 

Hospitalizations are “significantly up” with a report of 134 in the last 24 hours “as well as the ICU admissions,” he said. 

Hospital admissions are “creeping up,” he said, adding that is “obviously of some …concern.”

Some context: Ohio is one of at least 31 states that have showed an upward trend in average new daily cases, CNN reported. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, takes the elevator in the Hart Building in the Capitol in Washington, DC on July 1.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said today he disagrees with how most recent Trump rally attendees opted not to wear face masks.

Asked during a press conference about his reaction Trump rally attendees largely not wearing masks, McConnell replied, “I disagree with that,” and again reiterated the importance of facial coverings during the coronavirus pandemic. 

McConnell has repeatedly encouraged mask-wearing in recent months.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, talks to reporters outside the White House West Wing in Washington, DC on July 07.

Kellyanne Conway said that just because President Trump’s upcoming visit to Florida isn’t about coronavirus, “it doesn’t mean he won’t be asked about it,” she told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at the White House Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the North Lawn, Conway said she was “sure he’ll talk about it.”

“He’ll talk about coronavirus,” she said, but the administration has a “important message for the world” on drug trafficking.

“We are doing everything we can under tough circumstances,” she said.

Pressed on why the President is making the trip, despite the fact that more than a dozen secret service agents have gotten Covid-19 after recent trips by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, Conway called the two men the “most essential workers” in the United States.

“He and the Vice President are the two most essential workers in the county so they are tested regularly,” she said. Members of the administration would be “in a little bit of a bubble” while they are at the event, which takes place at US Southern Command.

The latest numbers: Florida is reporting a new 24-hour coronavirus total case count of at least 7,347, according to the Florida Department of Health. This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to approximately 213,794.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott speaks during a press conference in Montpelier, Vermont on March 13.

Vermont has created a task force to oversee the reopening of higher education facilities led by Rich Schneider, the recently retired president of Norwich University, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday in a news conference.

Schneider said that the state’s universities have collectively agreed to a contract for all students, faculty and staff on campus at universities and colleges in the state that requires them to sign a pledge verifying their honesty when reporting their health and agreeing to practice physical distancing, wear masks/face coverings and wash their hands frequently.

Schools that are welcoming students back in the fall will require everyone  — students and staff  — to be tested upon arrival and have another test one week later.

Any subsequent routine testing will be at the discretion of each university. Any student violating the policy will be subject to discipline, including being dismissed from their college or university. Any faculty or staff found in violation will face up to and including termination.

From a legal standpoint, Schneider said liability for anyone who gets sick had not been a broached subject. He did say, though, that “if someone wants to sue you, they’re going to sue you.”

Most Vermont schools holding in-person instruction in the fall will send students home for Thanksgiving break to mark the end of the semester, so as not to have students traveling back and forth within a week and potentially become infected with and/or spread the virus.

The state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mark Levine, said in today’s news conference that deaths remain stable in the state at 56, and cases in the state have remained stable overall, with small ups and downs that Vermont residents should consider to be a new normal.

US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on May 19.

On a call with Vice President Pence and the nation’s governors, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made it clear that it was the administration’s position that schools must fully reopen in the fall.

DeVos hammered a plan from Fairfax County in Virginia as an example of what local districts should not do, and went on to say that local leaders should look at the data and “weigh the risk” of opening.

“Here in the DC area, Fairfax County, one of the wealthiest districts in this region, with a $3 billion budget has offered families a ‘so-called’ choice in the fall of zero days in school or two days. Their attempt at distance learning this spring was a disaster,” she said.

DeVos said “a couple of hours of week of online school is not okay.”

“So this can’t happen again this fall,” she said, saying such a plan would fail students” and “would fail taxpayers who are paying high taxes for education.”

Patients and medical professionals enter and exit the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on May 16, 2014.

At a news conference in Miami this afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced 100 nurses will be sent to Jackson Health Memorial Hospital to help with coronavirus surge.

He also said an additional 47 beds will be sent to Jackson Health’s nursing facilities, making a total of 227 beds available.

The hospital, located in Miami, currently has at least 345 Covid-19 patients with 25% of them in intensive care unit. About 20% of the current inpatients are under 50 years old, according to a Jackson Health executive. 

The state has yet to release current hospitalization data it previously promised to deliver, deflecting repeated questions by reporters. According to DeSantis, 25% of beds are currently available statewide. 

Reopening in the county: Hours after considering an emergency order to roll back the reopening, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez said that until the county didn’t drop to 5% Covid-19 positivity rate, businesses would have to roll back on the reopening.

Restaurant dining will now only be allowed outdoors, but gyms will remain open. 

In this file photo, Chancellor Dr. Timothy White pauses during a California State University trustees meeting in Long Beach, California on November 17, 2015.

Higher education advocates on Tuesday called for Congress to approve federal aid in another round of coronavirus relief to help colleges and universities avoid state budget cuts in the upcoming academic year.

Timothy White, chancellor of the California State University, said California’s planned budget cuts for higher education could be reversed if Congress acts. 

“We think it’s a very vital role for the federal government to play here,” he said, adding that federal dollars would “make a huge difference” for students.

Scott Pulsipher, the president of the online Western Governors University, said “the costs of adapting are quite large and great” for traditional colleges and universities, which are investing in cleaning and other safety precautions during the pandemic.

During the virtual House Education and Labor subcommittee hearing, American Educational Research Association president Shaun Harper said that he hopes “Congress will pay particular attention in its investments to ensuring that those institutions don’t have a steep hill to climb in their recovery.” 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wears a face covering as he listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he is “strongly in favor of mandating things,” such as masks, but he doesn’t want to see it done on a federal level.

Fauci also addressed the need to wear a mask correctly by covering both your nose and mouth. 

“The mask is for both inhaling through the nose and the mouth. To cover your mouth and not your nose, you’re leaving open a vulnerable part,” he said.

 Essentially, “you’ve taken away 50% of your protection,” Fauci added.

He reiterated his stance on bars being the “perfect setup for the spread of infection.”

“So simple things, fundamental things, like masking, distancing, washing hands, closing bars – if you do that, I think it will be a giant step towards interfering with the spread in your community,” Fauci said.

Read about the US states requiring people to wear masks when out in public here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sign stands at their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Trump administration has notified Congress that it is formally withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization amid the coronavirus pandemic, multiple officials tell CNN.

Sen. Robert Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted about the development as well. “Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the ⁦‪@WHO⁩ in the midst of a pandemic,” he tweeted.

A source briefed on the letter told CNN that the letter was very short, around three sentences, and confirmed it will trigger a one-year withdrawal timeline, but cautioned that they cannot confirm it was the final version. 

Still, the letter indicates that the administration intends to move forward with its plan to withdraw from WHO after members of the GOP China task force urged President Trump last month to reconsider his decision to terminate relations with the international body, arguing the US can do more to affect change as a member.

Trump initially announced his intention to withdraw from WHO in May and has consistently accused the organization of aiding China in covering up the origins of the virus. 

Airline travel is bouncing back — but so are American coronavirus cases. That spike could put the aviation rebound in reverse.

United Airlines presented sobering facts to employees Monday that bookings are tumbling as Covid cases soar. Also hurting travel demand: regulations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that mandate travelers from the pandemic’s US hotspots quarantine themselves for 14 days. The Wall Street Journal first reported the memo.

Near-term bookings at United’s hub in Newark were only 16% of 2019 bookings through July 1. Just a few weeks earlier, United’s bookings were down “only” 33% from a year earlier. Although United would not release the details of the briefing being given to its employees this week, it confirmed the facts detailed in the Journal’s report. 

Delta Air Lines confirmed to CNN that its booking trends in the New York area are similar to United’s, although it did not release statistics.

Other airlines aren’t commenting on their bookings. But other airlines’ bookings are probably also falling as Covid-19 cases increase, said Philip Baggaley, chief credit analyst for airlines at Standard & Poor’s.

He said travel to the New York area, as well as Florida, Texas and Arizona will be particularly hard hit.

Read more here.

Mayor of Jacksonville Lenny Curry speaks during a luncheon at Florida State University on January 7, 2019.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry was notified this past Sunday that he had come into contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19 last week, according to Jacksonville Director of Public Affairs Nikki Kimbleton.

Curry was immediately screened for the virus and tested negative, Kimbleton tells CNN.

Nashville SC fans cheer before the game against Atlanta United at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee on February 29.

Major League Soccer’s MLS is Back Tournament match between Nashville SC and Chicago Fire FC has been postponed, the league announced in a statement Tuesday.

Five Nashville players have tested positive for coronavirus since arriving in Orlando, Florida, last week. Two players received positive results last weekend and the other three received positive results Monday night.

Four other players have received test results that were inconclusive and require more testing.

The two clubs were scheduled to play Wednesday as the league kicks off the season-starting tournament at Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, Florida. The now-postponed game was scheduled to be one of two matches played on the first day of the tournament, according to the league”s official lineup.

The league will evaluate the Nashville SC’s participation in the tournament after the results of additional testing. Further details regarding when this match will be played will be announced at a later date.

On Monday, MLS withdrew FC Dallas from the tournament after 10 players and one staff member tested positive for the virus. The MLS Players Association acknowledged the complex nature of hosting a tournament during the pandemic.  

In a statement posted to Twitter on Monday, the union wrote, “The removal of FC Dallas from competition in Orlando is a reminder of how difficult the circumstances involving returning to work remain across all sports amidst this pandemic.”

CNN has asked the MLSPA for comment following the Nashville SC news.

A man digs graves in the Xico-Chalco Civil Pantheon, State of Mexico, on June 26.

Since Mexico entered its “new normal” phase of reopening on June 1, the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths have almost tripled in the country.

According to official data tallied by CNN, the number of coronavirus cases in Mexico have risen by 180% since June 1, and the number of deaths have also increased by 206% during the same period of time.

On June 1, Mexico entered the new Covid-19 phase, reopening certain sectors of the economy under what they deemed the “new normal.” Meanwhile, the country reported 93,435 cases and 10,167 deaths that day. 

On July 6, Mexico reported 261,750 cases of coronavirus and 31,119 virus-related deaths, according to official data.

Iraq on Tuesday recorded 2,426 new coronavirus cases, according to the country’s health ministry.

Iraq now has a total of 64,701 cases of coronavirus.

The health ministry also reported 118 new Covid-19-related fatalities, bringing the total to 2,685 deaths across the country.

There are at least 2,953,423 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 130,546 people have died from the virus in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 17,346 new cases and 261 deaths. 

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

New data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 16,233 Covid-19 cases were confirmed in meat and poultry processing facilities across 23 states through May 31. 

Of the confirmed cases, 87% were among racial and ethnic minorities. There were also 86 Covid-19-associated deaths among workers in these facilities. 

There are an 525,000 workers within the animal slaughtering and processing industry across 3,500 facilities in the US, the report says. Because of missing data and asymptomatic and unrecognized cases, the prevalence of Covid-19 in the workforce is likely underestimated. 

Covid-19 has been known to spread rapidly in congregate settings where social distancing is not possible. Because of this, meat and poultry processing facility conditions often pose “distinctive” risks for workers. The CDC stated prolonged, close contact with other employees during 8- to 12-hour shifts in these facilities may increase transmission. Other risks include shared work spaces, transportation and housing. 

Of the 239 meat and poultry processing facilities in the report, common efforts to mitigate coronavirus transmission included mandating face coverings and adding hand hygiene stations and physical barriers between workers. 

Lina Hidalgo, judge of Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston, is advocating for a stay-at-home order in her county as coronavirus cases rise. 

Hidalgo, the chief administrator of the county, said that she doesn’t want to shut the economy again, but a patchwork method won’t quell coronavirus in the long run. 

“A long-term solution based on data instead of wishful thinking is what’s going to put our economy in the position to succeed,” Hidalgo told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. 

Texas has more than 200,000 Covid-19 cases, and Harris County has more than 37,000 cases so far. 

Hidalgo said that a mask mandate will not solely bring the number of cases down, which is why she’s looking for a stay-at-home order as well. 

“We can’t just put our head in the sand and hope that somehow it’s going to go differently over here,” she said. 

Watch:

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on July 3.

World Health Organization scientists and experts are scheduled to travel to China this weekend to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Tuesday.

“The experts will develop the scope and terms of reference for a WHO-led international mission. The mission objective is to advance the understanding of animal hosts for Covid-19 and ascertain how the disease jumped between animals and humans,” Tedros said. “WHO will continue to communicate the latest scientific advances to the media and general public as we have them.” 

Specifically, experts will be seeking to trace the narrative of how the coronavirus might have spread from the wild to possibly farm animals to humans, said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program.

“It takes time,” he said on Tuesday.

“There is the wild animal kingdom, there is the farmed animal kingdom, there are interfaces with humans,” Ryan said. “So we need to understand the track of this virus.”

Dr. Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Americas, speaks during a press briefing at PAHO Headquarters in Washington, DC, on March 6.

There were 22,000 deaths from the coronavirus throughout the Americas last week alone. That was 9% higher than the previous week, said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The Americas also saw a daily average of more than 100,000 new cases last week – nearly 20% higher than the previous week.

Speaking at PAHO’s weekly briefing on the pandemic, Etienne said there have now been 267,000 coronavirus deaths across the Americas, and the trends of infection were accelerating in several US states as well as much of Central and South America.

She went on to say there was a concerning trend of infections reaching areas that had not been much affected until now, just as people were becoming fatigued with precautions and restrictions on their movement. The pandemic, she said, was moving from some of the biggest cities to smaller towns that had fewer facilities such as intensive care. 

Two months ago, US accounted for about 75% of all cases in the Americas, Etienne said. Now more than 50% of cases were being registered in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil alone accounting for a quarter of cases. 

Etienne expressed concern about unsafe working conditions and the lack of protective equipment for frontline health workers in much of the region. She reiterated the need for better tracing of the virus. The impact of the virus had been worsened by inequality, political division and under-investment in health care.

She predicted the next six months would not be any easier than the last: many hospitals were approaching capacity and the treatment of other conditions and diseases was being disrupted. Etienne noted that maternal mortality was increasing, as access to prenatal services was becoming more difficult.

She also expressed concern that the treatment of other health problems common in Latin America – from tuberculosis to diabetes – was being affected by problems in securing supplies and accessing health facilities.

WHO Health Emergencies Programme head Michael Ryan attends a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on July 3.

The number of Covid-19 cases around the world is continuing to climb and the increases are “not purely as a result of testing,” a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

“In April and May we were dealing with 100,000 cases a day. Today we’re dealing with 200,000 cases a day — and that is not purely as a result of testing,” Ryan added. “This epidemic is accelerating.”

Ryan added that the rise in case numbers has occurred at the same time the global Covid-19 death rate has remained stable, which suggests that frontline doctors and nurses may be treating patients earlier and saving more lives. 

The latest numbers: There have now been more than 11 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 535,000 deaths around the world due to the pandemic, according to WHO.

“The outbreak is accelerating and we have clearly not reached the peak of the pandemic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during Tuesday’s briefing.

“While the number of deaths appears to have leveled off globally, in reality some countries have made significant progress in reducing the number of deaths, while in other countries deaths are still on the rise,” Tedros said. “Where there has been progress in reducing deaths, countries have implemented targeted actions toward the most vulnerable groups, for example those people living in long-term care facilities.” 

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez speaks during a press conference in Miami on June 8

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez said he met with the county’s Wellness Group Tuesday morning and came to a compromise to keep gyms and fitness studios open during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a tweet from the mayor’s official Twitter account.

People inside “must wear a mask or do strenuous training outside staying 10 feet apart w/out mask,” Giménez tweeted. 

Giménez is also slated to issue an upcoming executive order allowing outdoor dining to continue under the current spike in coronavirus cases with restrictions, according to a statement released by the mayor’s office. 

New restrictions require restaurants to include tables of no more than four people and allow for appropriate social distancing. Restaurants will be required to play music at a level that does not require shouting, to curb the emission of potentially dangerous airborne droplets from people’s mouths.

This is a partial revision of the county’s decision to re-shut down some businesses. Just yesterday, Miami-Dade announced certain businesses, including fitness centers, would close Wednesday because of the spiking coronavirus numbers. Restaurants were also slated to close, except for takeout and delivery.

The mayor is expected to speak at a 12:30 p.m. ET press conference alongside Gov. DeSantis where the two will address Covid-19 updates in the city of Miami and the state of Florida. 

Tucson, Arizona, Mayor Regina Romero said that she’s very concerned about the lack of intensive care unit beds and the disorganized effort for testing and contract tracing as cases soar in the state. 

Romero said that ICU bed capacity is at its limit. Pima County only has five to 10 ICU beds available some days, she said. 

Romero said test results are taking too long and there’s a disjointed process for contact tracing.

Romero has implemented a mask mandate in her city, but she wants Gov. Doug Ducey to put a statewide mandatory mask order in place.

“We need the governor and the federal government to come and help organize our efforts so that we can take this under control,” she said. 

A health care worker administers a Covid-19 test at a site in Homestead, Florida on July 6.

At least 7,347 new coronavirus cases were reported in Florida in the past 24 hours, according to the state Department of Health.

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to at least 213,794. 

Arizona is reporting 117 deaths from Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, state data shows. 

The state has been setting record high daily death counts about once a week.

The previous record highs were 79 daily deaths on June 24 and then 88 deaths on July 1.

Arizona is also reporting the lowest-ever number of beds available in intensive care units today.

According to state data, there are only 167 ICU beds, or 10% of overall capacity, left in Arizona.

Of the 1,481 ICU beds being used, 869 are taken by Covid-19 patients, data shows.

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro speaks at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil on June 17.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for Covid-19, Bolsonaro himself announced, speaking on Brazilian TV channels Tuesday.

Brazil’s Ministry of Communications said in a statement that the president maintains a good state of health and is, at that moment, at the Palácio da Alvorada.

Some background: Bolsonaro had a Covid-19 test and a lung scan at a Brasilia hospital Monday evening. He told his supporters gathered outside the Presidential Palace in Brasilia after returning from the hospital, that he had undergone tests and had gotten a lung screening which came back “clean.”  

As he awaited the results of his latest Covid-19 test, Bolsonaro was being treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, Bolsonaro said in a phone call with CNN affiliate CNN Brasil.

CNN Brasil also reported Monday that the president said he was showing symptoms consistent with Covid-19, including a 38 degree Celsius fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Bolsonaro’s office told CNN Brasil Tuesday that his temperature was normal.

Bolsonaro has derided coronavirus as just a “little flu,” and previously appeared in public and at rallies without a mask, even hugging supporters.

He has encouraged the country to reopen, even as the number of cases rises, and has criticized local governments’ efforts to stamp out the virus through social distancing measures, such as quarantine and shelter-in-place orders.

Brazil’s latest Covid-19 figures: Brazil is second only to the US in numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths. More than 65,000 people have died of the virus in Brazil, according to figures released by the country’s health ministry on Monday, and 1,623,284 cases have been confirmed so far.

With reporting from Sara John, Marcia Reverdosa and Taylor Barnes

This post has been updated to show that Bolsonaro spoke to CNN Brasil about being treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as he awaited Covid-19 results.

WATCH:

Starting July 15, the University System of Georgia will now require students, faculty and visitors to wear face coverings when inside campus buildings and/or when social distancing is not possible at all of its colleges and universities, USG announced on its website.

The move — a reversal in policy — comes after hundreds of faculty members at Georgia Tech sent a letter to the university system saying that the now-previous policy of not mandating masks was irresponsible and posed a danger to the health of the faculty and the community. 

The University of Louisville men’s basketball has temporarily suspended all basketball voluntary activities for two weeks after two members tested positive for the coronavirus, Kenny Klein, senior associate athletic director, said in a statement Tuesday. 

The announcement did not specify if players or staff tested positive for the virus.

There have been 84 offender and nine employee deaths across the prison system in Texas due to Covid-19, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).

TDCJ announced on Monday that corrections officer V. Kenneth Harbin, who had more than 30 years of service with the agency, died on July 4, becoming the ninth employee to die in connection with the virus.

In the latest information released on July 1 by TDCJ, 8,811 offenders and 1,556 employees have tested positive for Covid-19. Of those, 84 offenders have died and another 28 deaths are under investigation. 

The TDCJ says they have tested 117,765 offenders and 35,662 employees for the virus systemwide. 

The intake of offenders from county jails resumed on July 1 on a limited basis. TDJC says they are coordinating with each county on the Covid-19 screening process to ensure each inmate is suitable for intake.

Once the inmate has arrived, he or she will be medically screened and then quarantined separately for 14 days. The person will then be transferred to a Covid-free housing area in the general population, according to a release by TDCJ.

Approximately 250 offenders will be brought in each week and TDCJ says it will continue to monitor data to make decisions about expansion.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice manages more than 146,000 offenders in state prisons, jails and private correctional facilities and has more than 36,000 employees. 

Brown University will reconfigure its academic calendar for the 2020-21 school year and offer three terms  —fall, spring and summer  —allowing for all undergraduate students to be on campus for two of the three terms, reducing the overall number of students on campus at once. 

The fall session will begin in September and move to all remote after Thanksgiving.

The spring session will be on campus January through April and then will move to remote for final exams, and the summer term will begin in May and be on campus May through August. 

First-years will be welcomed to campus for the spring and summer terms, juniors and seniors will be on campus for the fall and spring terms, and the sophomore class will be split between the three. 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was “crucial” to bring back childcare and announced the NYC Board of Health will be voting on allowing 3,000 childcare centers to reopen on July 13 later today.

These will be subject to strict state requirements, with no more than 15 children per room, social distancing, face coverings for staff and children, daily health screenings, frequent cleanings and disinfections, limited sharing of items, he said.

He said that only 125 childcare programs have been open since April for the children of essential workers. 

De Blasio said he is hopeful this measure can move forward and will update on its progress later Tuesday.

A member of the Kansas National Guard collects a sample at a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site in Dodge City, Kansas, on May 20.

Individuals visiting New York State from Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma will be required to quarantine for 14 days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a statement Tuesday morning.

The three states are among 19 that meet the metrics to qualify for the traveler quarantine advisory.

Some context: There were 10 coronavirus-related deaths recorded in New York on Monday, bringing the statewide death toll to 24,924.

At least 588 of the 56,736 coronavirus tests conducted Monday were positive (1.04%), according to Cuomo’s office. 

Relatives and staff from the Palestinian Ministry of Health stand by the body of a person said to have died from Covid-19 before burial in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on June 29.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is fighting to contain surging new Covid-19 infection numbers, with the southern West Bank city of Hebron the worst affected location.

On Tuesday, the PA reported 306 new cases of the coronavirus, of which 278 were located in Hebron and surrounding areas.

The situation in the West Bank mirrors closely what is happening in Israel. Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders won praise early in the pandemic for introducing tough restrictions on movement, resulting in both locations seeing a sharp decline in new infection numbers in the second half of April and into May.

Now, weeks after both leaderships lifted restrictions, coronavirus numbers are spiking sharply again. 

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that more than 80% of new infections were the result of gatherings at weddings or funerals. The rest – 18% – he said were the result of Palestinian workers contracting the illness in Israel and bringing it back to the West Bank.

In a somewhat eye-catching request, he called on Israel to close the crossings between Israel and the West Bank and appealed to Palestinian workers to refrain from taking work in Israel, a move that would have an adverse economic impact for the PA.

International students who are pursuing degrees in the United States may have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday.

The move could affect thousands of foreign students who come to the United States to attend universities or participate in training programs, as well as non-academic or vocational studies.

Universities nationwide are beginning to make the decision to transition to online courses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At Harvard, for example, all course instruction will be delivered online, including for students living on campus. For international students, that opens the door to them having to leave the US.

There are roughly 1 million international students in the US. Here’s a look at where they’re from:

Some background: In a news release Monday, ICE said that students who fall under certain visas “may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States,” adding, “The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.”

The agency suggested that students currently enrolled in the US consider other measures, like transferring to schools with in-person instruction. There’s an exception for universities using a hybrid model, such as a mix of online and in-person classes.

Australia has closed its inter-state border between Victoria and New South Wales [NSW] - the country’s two most populous states - at midnight local time on Wednesday (10 a.m. ET Tuesday), as it battles a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.

This is the first time in 100 years that the border between the two states has been closed since the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic.

The closure means the 6.6 million people in the state of Victoria are effectively cut off from the rest of the country unless they have permits to travel.

On Tuesday, Victoria’s health department announced a record 191 new Covid-19 cases in the past day throughout the state, with the most cases concentrated in Melbourne, the state capital.

WATCH:

The White House is set to focus on reopening the country’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday. President Trump and the first lady are set to participate in an event at 3:00 p.m. ET labeled a “National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America’s Schools.”

While the federal government is leaving reopening decisions up to state and local governments, the Trump administration will provide financial resources and share best practices as it strongly urges a return to school for what it says is the “holistic health” of the nation, despite rising cases currently in 31 states. 

Administration officials briefing reporters Tuesday morning emphasized the importance of the nation’s “most vulnerable” students returning to school and the critical services schools provide, closely echoing the President’s rationale for reopening the country in that the cure can’t be worse than the disease in terms of social issues stemming from closures, saying school closure disruption has had “significant negative impact.” 

The official continued, “The local context and needs of all school districts are unique, and as such, plans for returning to school should be tailored in a way that minimize the risk of Covid-19 spread while providing students with the critical services, academic resources, and social emotional supports that they need. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) encourages school districts to make reopening plans that anticipate Covid-19 cases, minimize the risk of spread, and then limit the need for the potential of school closures.”

More on this: That official noted multiple times that the CDC “never” actually recommended in its guidance that schools close as the virus first arrived in the US earlier this year, saying those were “local jurisdictional decisions that were made.”

Pressed on concerns with spiking cases in various areas, the senior official said there are “a variety of different strategies that schools can adopt that really minimize the risk and can open these schools quite safely,” but declined to provide specific details on those strategies. 

There is risk, the official said, that students and others in school settings get infected and “somehow then transmit that infection to someone who’s more vulnerable in the community,” adding that the administration will “double down on our commitment to protecting the vulnerable,” but declining to say how.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves delivers a televised address in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 30.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted this morning that he and his family have tested negative for Covid-19 after saying that he came in contact with a legislator who may have been exposed to the virus on Monday.

Read his tweet:

Medical staff communicate in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on July 2.

Coronavirus cases across parts of the south and southwest are increasing so quickly that contact tracing isn’t possible any more, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday. Meanwhile, at least 24 states have paused their reopening plans and at least 31 states are seeing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week.

In Florida, a new record was set for most coronavirus cases in the US in a single day on Saturday, with a total of 11,458, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and on Sunday, the state surpassed 200,000 total Covid-19 cases. Miami-Dade County, which has become the epicenter of the virus in that state, is seeing a surge in hospitalizations.

In the past 13 days, Miami-Dade County, which includes the city of Miami, has seen a staggering increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized (90%), in the number of ICU beds being used (86%) and in the use of ventilators (127%), according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County government. The 14-day average positivity rate in the county is 23%, according to data released by the county government.

Here’s a look at the progression of total cases in Florida, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Texas reported 5,318 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to at least 200,557, with 2,655 deaths in the state, according to numbers released by the Texas Health and Human Services. The state’s highest daily number of new cases on record was reported on July 4  — 8,258.

Here’s a look at the progression of total cases in Texas, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Arizona surpassed 100,000 coronavirus cases yesterday, according to the state’s Department of Health. More than 62,000 of the 101,441 reported cases are in people younger than 44 years old. Covid-19 hospitalizations have increased in the state, with more than 3,200 Covid-19 inpatients and over 800 ICU patients currently reported in Arizona hospitals.

Here’s a look at the progression of total cases in Arizona, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted last week that the United States could see 100,000 coronavirus cases a day, short of a serious mitigation effort.

“We’re approaching that, so this is a public health crisis for our nation,” Hotez said.

Here’s a look at how the progression of total confirmed cases in the three states compares:

With reporting from CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman, Joe Sutton, Elizabeth Cohen and Dana Vigue.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico's president, stands during a news conference in Mexico City on June 23.

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has tested negative for Covid-19, he announced at his daily news conference Tuesday morning. 

This comes hours before he leaves for Washington, DC, where he will meet President Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

He took the test Monday, which was the first time he publicly acknowledged taking a coronavirus test, previously saying he never needed to get tested because he never had symptoms.

López Obrador is traveling via commercial flight and has never used the presidential plane since taking office in December, 2018. This will be his first trip abroad as president.

US stocks opened lower on Tuesday, pulling back after the prior session’s rally that pushed the Nasdaq Composite to an all-time closing high.

With few catalysts to give the market direction, investors can’t hide from the rising number of Covid-19 infections across the country. Economists are warning that the resurgence of cases could delay the economic recovery.

Here’s how the market opened:

A can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray remains on the shelf of a Walgreens in Portland, Oregon, on March 2.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved two Lysol products as effective against coronavirus when used on hard, non-porous surfaces.

The EPA announced Monday that Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist meet the agency’s criteria for use against coronavirus based on laboratory testing that found both products kill the virus two minutes after contact. 

Why this matters: In a statement, the EPA explained that before companies can legally claim its products work against a certain pathogen, the agency must first authorize it based on a review of data. 

Guidance issued in January in response to the outbreak allowed manufacturers to provide the EPA with data that shows a product’s effectiveness against coronavirus. Based on this guidance and the agency’s review of products, the EPA has a list of more than 420 products that meet the agency’s criteria for use against the virus, including several Lysol products.

Lysol said in a statement it is currently working on testing the efficacy of other disinfectant products against Covid-19.

“In the face of the pandemic, Lysol continues to work with a wide range of scientific and health experts to educate the public on the importance of hygiene,” said Rahul Kadyan, executive vice president of Reckitt Benckiser in North America, Lysol’s parent company. 

Volunteers work to bury a person said to have died from Covid-19 in Qaem Shahr, Iran, on April 10.

Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Iran hit a high record on Tuesday as 200 new deaths were registered over the past 24 hours, the highest since the virus outbreak in the country, state news Mehr reported.

Iran’s Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari said Tuesday during a daily press conference in Tehran that over the past 24 hours, 2,637 new cases of Covid-19 were reported, bringing the total number of infections in Iran to 245,688 and the country’s total death toll has risen to 11,931.

Lari also said that: “Out of 2,637 detected cases, 1,455 have been hospitalized across the country.”

The health ministry’s spokesperson warned people to be more vigilant and everybody in general must avoid unnecessarily leaving their homes and wear facial masks indoors in public places including buses and subways.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has mandated the wearing of masks in public after coronavirus cases continued to rise in recent weeks.

He announced on Saturday that the wearing of masks would become compulsory in public spaces as of Sunday, July 5, according to the Iranian state news agency, IRNA.

Health care workers test people for Covid-19 in Tampa, Florida, on June 25.

In Florida, 43 hospital ICU’s in 21 counties have hit capacity and show zero ICU beds available, according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). This includes hospitals in the following counties:

Another 32 hospitals show ICU bed availability of 10% or less, per the AHCA data.

In addition, 14 hospitals have hit capacity of non-ICU hospital beds and another 54 hospitals have 10% or less non-ICU hospital beds available.

You can see the latest data on hospitals in your Florida County here.

WATCH:

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump watch a flyover performance near the White House on July 04, 2020 in Washington, DC.

President Trump is expected to travel to Doral, Florida, later this week, landing squarely in the center of a coronavirus hotspot and potentially taxing the already-limited local health resources.

Despite the raging coronavirus pandemic, Trump will turn his attention Friday to the issue of drug trafficking in South America, visiting US Southern Command for a briefing, a White House official confirmed to CNN. The trip was first reported by Politico.

Doral, where US Southern Command is located, is just under two miles from the President’s golf club. But it is also in Miami-Dade County, which is currently experiencing a coronavirus outbreak.

Miami-Dade County has seen a 90% increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized in the past 13 days, according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County Government.

It has also seen a staggering increase in the number of ICU beds being used (86%) and in the use of ventilators (127%). The 14-day average positivity rate in Miami-Dade County is 23%, according to data released by county government.

Remember: A presidential visit – no matter who is in office – requires a significant amount of resources, with White House officials, White House Medical Unit representatives, and US Secret Service agents traveling in advance of the president to coordinate with local officials on the ground.

Here are some steps that are taken in preparation of a trip of this nature:

There is usually a trauma bay reserved for the President, but it’s possible that one is just designated rather than taken out of commission when a hospital is particularly taxed.

“We’re not going to displace any medical care to be on standby for the President, but if he goes there, there will be a significant impact to the hospital,” Wackrow said.

With additional reporting from Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt

WATCH:

A customer wearing a protective mask receives a haircut at a salon in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 15, 2020.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reiterated the importance of wearing masks and said she would implement more coronavirus restrictions if needed. 

Whitmer said she was disappointed about a crowded lake party over the holiday weekend, where largely young people were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

“I would hate to think that the sacrifice that we’ve made could be made in vain because some people are losing interest or dropping their guard. We’ve got to double down more than ever,” she said. 

Whitmer said the state was supposed to move on to a phase five of reopening, but she reversed course before July 4 because cases were ticking up in the state.

“I’m not going to be bullied into moving before it’s safe. And if we have to move back, we’re gonna,” she said.  

Gyms and theaters are not open in Michigan. Whitmer said that she has no issue with closing down other industries, such as hair salons, if there are outbreaks. 

“I’m prepared to take heat if that’s what it’s going to take to keep people safe,” she said. 

Watch the interview:

An aerial view from a drone as residents wait in line for the drive-thru COVID-19 testing center at the Ellis Davis Field House on July 2, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. 

It’s Tuesday morning in the US, and the country is nearing 3 million reported coronavirus cases.

So far, more than 2,938,000 cases have been recorded since the pandemic began, and cases are increasing in at least 31 states.

Here are the latest updates on the pandemic:

Several English pubs have had to close their doors again after customers tested positive for coronavirus, dealing an early blow to the country’s efforts to reopen its establishments.

Pubs and restaurants were allowed to welcome customers from July 4, a day dubbed “Super Saturday” by the British media amid concerns about social distancing and unruly behavior.

Customers at pubs across the country were asked for contact details before they could enter, in order to help with contact tracing if someone was later found to have the virus.

Now, at least three venues have had to shut again, after some customers tested positive for Covid-19 following their visit at the weekend.

A post on the Facebook page of the Fox and Hounds pub in Batley, north England, said a customer  — who had been at the premises on Saturday  — called on Monday to say they had tested positive for coronavirus.

“On their visit they was unaware (sic) and had no symptoms,” the post added.

“This isn’t the message we wanted to write so soon but The Lighthouse will be closed due to a customer testing positive,” a pub in Burnham-on-Sea, in southwest England, added on social media.

Both pubs said their staff members were being tested. Pubs were allowed to open in England on Saturday for the first time in three months.

Read the full story:

A member of bar staff wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) in the form of a face mask, cleans a table inside the Wetherspoon pub, Goldengrove in Stratford in east London on July 4, 2020, as restrictions are further eased during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. - Pubs in England reopen on Saturday for the first time since late March, bringing cheer to drinkers and the industry but fears of public disorder and fresh coronavirus cases. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Several English pubs forced to close again after customers test positive for coronavirus

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. signage is displayed outside their headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, on June 12,

Biotechnology company Regeneron has been awarded a $450 million contract to manufacture and supply REGN-COV2, a combination antibody treatment for Covid-19 that is now in late-stage clinical trials. The funding is part of the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine program, “Operation Warp Speed.”

The agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and US Department of Defense supports manufacturing of the drug so that it can be made available immediately in the United States if clinical trials are successful and it receives emergency use authorization or approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

The company started scaling up production of the treatment in the spring and said that if OK’d by the FDA, it would be available in the United States at no cost.

“This manufacturing and supply agreement with BARDA and the Department of Defense could help REGN-COV2 reach many people quickly, hopefully helping to change the course of this deadly and still-raging pandemic,” Dr. Leonard S. Schleifer, Regeneron co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Read more here:

New York state based biotech company, Regeneron is working on an antibody therapy to treat, and possibly prevent, Covid-19.

Related article Regeneron starts Phase 3 trial of Covid-19 antibody cocktail

The German district of Guetersloh, the site of a coronavirus outbreak at a meatpacking plant in June, has had its lockdown lifted by a court order.

Restrictions were imposed late last month in the area in western Germany after hundreds of workers tested positive for Covid-19 at a slaughterhouse owned by the Toennies Group.

The Higher Administrative Court in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled the lockdown measures lifted Monday as it stated that they are likely to be unlawful.

Germany has been relatively successful in fighting the coronavirus, but there have been several outbreaks at slaughterhouses in the past month that threaten to undermine the gradual reopening of its economy.

Read more here:

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

Women wearing wedding dresses stage a flashmob protest by the Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy, on July 7.

A group of women dressed as brides carried out a flash mob in Rome on Tuesday to protest against the coronavirus safety measures that prohibit large religious ceremonies like a big wedding. 

The event, organized by an Italian wedding association, was called the “flash mob of the singles or unmarried ones.” 

The protesters hold signs against the postponement of their marriages due to the strict protocol around religious ceremonies.

Some 15 women held signs and posed in front of Rome’s famous sites like the Trevi Fountain. They were also pictured outside the Italian Parliament, where they were joined by members of the country’s hard-hit wedding industry.

Protestor Francesca Del Vechio, who is from Naples, told CNN that she was supposed to “get married in September but because of government restrictions we had to postpone the date for at least one year.”

She said that while the change of date was not an issue, she would like to get married next year “without restrictions.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured at the Siemens Rail factory construction site in Goole, England, on Monday, July 6.

British social care institutions have criticized Boris Johnson’s latest comments on the Covid-19 deaths in the country’s care homes. The UK Prime Minister said Monday that during the coronavirus outbreak, “too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in a way that they could have, but we are learning lessons the whole time.”

Joyce Pinfield from the UK National Care Association told BBC Radio 5 Tuesday that she was “absolutely appalled” by Johnson’s remarks. “It’s a slap in the face to the care sector,” she said, adding that there was no “protective ring” thrown by the government on care homes.

Mark Adams, CEO of the charity Community Integrated Care, told BBC Today Radio 4 he was “unbelievably disappointed” by the PM’s comments.

Adams then mentioned the “brave” social care workers, “often on minimum wage, no sickness cover at all, going to work to protect our parents, our grandparents… to get perhaps the most senior man in the country turning around and naming them of what has been an absolute travesty of leadership from the government I think it’s appalling.”

According to UK Office for National Statistics, 19,394 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered up to June 20 in the care sector in England and Wales.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma told BBC Breakfast that the right procedures were “not known” and that “no one is suggesting that care homes haven’t done a great job in in really difficult circumstances.”

“What the Prime Minister was pointing out is that nobody knew what the correct procedures were because we know that the extent of asymptomatic cases was not known at the time,” Sharma said.

He added that the government provided “very detailed guidance” during the outbreak as well as extra funding and a testing regime for care homes from April.

“So we have done our best to put our arms around the care home sector,” Sharma said

The federal government’s “Operation Warp Speed” Covid-19 vaccine program has given a $1.6 billion contract to Maryland biotech company Novavax. It is the largest federal contract yet awarded to any Covid-19 vaccine company. 

It is the fourth company to receive federal funds to conduct large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials and manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccine.  

In May, the government awarded more than $1.2 billion to pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for vaccine development. The other two companies that received Phase 3 contracts are Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. 

Phase 1 clinical trial data from Novavax on 131 study subjects is expected by the end of the month, Erck said.

He added that Novavax’s Phase 3 trial could begin in the late third quarter of 2020. 

Moderna is expected to start its Phase 3 trial later this month. It will involve 30,000 study subjects, some of whom will get the vaccine and some of whom will get a placebo, or an injection that does nothing. 

Novavax’s $1.6 billion will allow the company to scale up production of the vaccine in advance of its potential approval, with the aim of delivering 100 million doses by February, Erck said.

WATCH:

A member of a flight crew arrives at Hong Kong International Airport on May 14.

Hong Kong will require aircrew members to submit Covid-19 testing samples upon their arrival in the city, the government told a daily coronavirus press conference on Tuesday.

This comes as Hong Kong reported 14 new infections, including nine local cases, on Tuesday, the highest number of local cases recorded since April 8. 

While flight crew members are currently exempted from 14-day mandatory quarantine, starting on Wednesday, they will be required to submit deep throat saliva samples when they arrive at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Authorities are still tracing the origins of five of the nine new local cases, according to Cheung Chuk-kwan, director of communicable diseases of the CHP.

People in their vehicles wait to enter a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on June 30.

Miami-Dade County has seen a 90% increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized in the past 13 days, according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County Government.

It has also seen a staggering increase in the number of ICU beds being used (86%) and in the use of ventilators (127%).

Meanwhile, Miami’s Jackson Health System has seen an 120% percent increase in Covid-19 patients in the past two weeks, according to data posted by the hospital system on Twitter.

On June 20, Jackson Health reported 157 Covid-19 patients. By Monday, they reported 345. Jackson Health System is a nonprofit academic medical system.

The state of Florida does not release the number of current Covid-19 patients in the state. The state only releases the number of available hospital beds, which is currently 14,324 (24%).

As for ICU beds available in Florida, the state reports there are currently 1,265 available, which is 21%. 

The 14-day average positivity rate in Miami-Dade County is 23%, according to data released by county government.

The European Union’s economy will experience an even deeper recession than previously anticipated in 2020 due to the pandemic, according to the European Commission’s latest economic forecast.

Its economy is now expected to contract by 8.3% this year, compared to the previous forecast of a 7.4% contraction. The Commission anticipates the economy to grow 5.8% in 2021 – a weaker rate than its previous forecast.

“The economic impact of the lockdown is more severe than we initially expected. We continue to navigate in stormy waters and face many risks, including another major wave of infections,” Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Commission Vice President, said in a press release on Tuesday.

Despite hopes for relief this summer, the US is battling the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic – so much so that across the South and Southwest contact tracing is no longer possible, according to a health expert.

The rapid rise in cases is considered a surge, not a second wave, because the infection numbers never lowered to where officials hoped they would, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a livestream on Monday.

The national case count hits new records almost daily, Hotez said. As of Tuesday morning, more than 2.9 million people had been infected and 130,306 people had died from coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Read more here:

A health care worker carries a stack of clipboards at a COVID-19 testing site sponsored by Community Heath of South Florida at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Clinica Campesina Health Center, during the coronavirus pandemic, Monday, July 6, 2020, in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Related article Contact tracing is no longer possible across the US South due to rapid coronavirus surges, health expert says

People wait in line at a temporary coronavirus testing station in Beijing, on July 6.

Beijing reported zero new coronavirus cases on Monday for the first time since the Xinfadi wholesale food market cluster was discovered on June 11, China’s National Health Commission announced Tuesday. 

Eight new imported cases were reported in China, across Shanghai, Liaoning, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Guangdong. No new deaths or local cases were recorded. The National Health Commission also reported 15 new asymptomatic cases across the country.

This comes as Beijing authorities announced Monday that over 11 million people in the capital have been given nucleic acid coronavirus tests since the outbreak at the Xinfadi market, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. 

The cough has come back, without warning and seemingly for no reason; so has the fatigue. True, neither are as debilitating as when I had the actual virus, but they are back.

Like many others, I am now coming to realize that I am living and suffering from the long tail of Covid-19.

I got infected back in mid-April. The onset of symptoms came quickly. I suddenly noticed I was feeling very tired and I had a new cough. I got tested and the morning after I received a phone call from the medical center, I had tested positive for coronavirus.

The virus is like a tornado. When it lands, it swirls through the body, causing chaos, confusion, coughs, wreaking damage to each organ it touches. Some won’t survive its visit. For those that do, when it has gone, one surveys the damage to the human landscape and realizes it’s much greater than first thought. My symptoms were on the milder side: I never had breathing difficulties, or loss of sense or smell. I was wiped-out tired and I always had “the cough,” which has now returned.

I have tested negative for the virus and positive for the antibodies, and my doctor says it won’t return. But there are days when I feel that it has.

I am also discovering new areas of damage: I have now become incredibly clumsy. I was never the most lissome person, no one ever called me graceful, but my clumsiness is off the chart. If I reach for a glass, or take something out of a cupboard, I will knock it, or drop it on the floor. I have tripped over the curb and gone flying. I fall over furniture. It is as if that part of my brain, which subconsciously adjusts hand and movement to obstacles it sees, isn’t working.

At times there’s a sense of mild confusion. The micro delay in a thought, the hesitation with a word. Nobody would notice but me.

For those who have not had Covid, or witnessed the mess it leaves behind, again, I urge you, do whatever you can to avoid this tornado.

It will roar through the body – kill some on the way – injure all in its path – and then when you think “well, thank God that’s gone,” look around, the damage is strewn everywhere and will be with you long after the crisis has passed.

Read the full story here:

Related article I got Covid-19 two months ago. I'm still discovering new areas of damage -- Richard Quest

The United States had 1,095,299 international students in the 2018-19 academic year, an all-time high and the fourth consecutive year there were over 1 million international students in the country, according to the Institute of International Education.

India was second, followed by South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada. 

International students who are pursuing degrees in the United States will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday.

The move may affect thousands of foreign students who come to the United States to attend universities or participate in training programs, as well as non-academic or vocational studies.

According to the Institute of International Education, here are the top five countries of origin of international students in the US, 2018-19:

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A runner crosses Harvard Yard on March 23, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Students were required to be out of their dorms no later than March 15 and finish the rest of the semester online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Related article International students may need to leave US if their universities transition to online-only learning

The top medical officer for California’s corrections system has been replaced as the rate of  coronavirus infections among the state’s inmates continues to increase.

“We are in unprecedented times as we deal with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic,” California Correctional Health Care Services Receiver J. Clark Kelso said in a statement.

“In order to meet current response needs while also working toward further delegations of medical care back to state control, it has become evident that a reorganization is necessary for long-term sustainability.”

More than 2,350 inmates are currently infected – more than half of whom are inside a single facility, San Quentin State Prison.

According to the state’s department of corrections, there are currently more than 1,300 active cases at San Quentin with nearly 70% of those cases popping up in the last two weeks. Six prisoners there have died from the virus, according to state data.

A total of 165 staff members have also tested positive for the virus at San Quentin.

In response to the crisis, the corrections department announced it’s reduced its population by almost 10,000 inmates since March – both by an expedited transition to parole of 3,500 inmates and suspending intake from jails.

Officials have also created spaces in the facility to isolate patients who have tested positive and quarantine those exposed to anyone who has the virus.

Read more here:

SAN QUENTIN, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 29: A view of San Quentin State Prison on June 29, 2020 in San Quentin, California. San Quentin State Prison is continuing to experience an outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 cases with over 1,000 confirmed cases amongst the staff and inmate population. San Quentin had zero cases of COVID-19 prior to a May 30th transfer of 121 inmates from a Southern California facility that had hundreds of active cases 13 COVID-19-related deaths. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Related article California prisons replace their top medical officer amid a coronavirus outbreak

A woman who allegedly coughed on a baby during a social distancing dispute no longer has her job with a California school district.

Oak Grove School District in San Jose announced over the weekend that the woman, whom it did not identify, was no longer an employee with the district.

It was not immediately clear whether the woman left her job or was fired.

What happened: The incident took place on June 12, when a White woman described as being in her 60s was standing in line for frozen yogurt in front of another woman and her child in a stroller, according to the San Jose Police Department.

Video showed the first woman coughing in the face of the baby because, police said, the mother was not maintaining proper social distance.

“The preliminary investigation revealed the suspect was upset the female was not maintaining proper social distancing so the suspect removed her face mask, got close to the baby’s face, and coughed two to three times,” police Sgt. Enrique Garcia said last month.

Read the full story here:

A woman seen on video coughing on a baby at a Yogurtland in San Jose, California, has lost her job with the Oak Grove School District.

Related article A woman who allegedly coughed on a baby no longer has her school district job

Cars are seen as the drivers wait to be tested for Covid-19 at the test site located in the Hard Rock Stadium parking lot on July 6, in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Last week, Miami was seeing 91 new coronavirus cases per day. Now, it’s up to 125.

The Miami-Dade county just signed an emergency order to roll back business reopenings – but officials also need to start working on a long-term plan, said Suarez. 

“We know that you can’t implement these orders forever,” Suarez said. “I think if this is just a measure to maintain or reduce hospital capacity, then it’s something that is obviously a short term-measure. What we need is a plan and strategy that is long-term, and that is calculated to defeat Covid-19 in our community.”

Florida is now the third hardest-hit state nationwide in terms of total case numbers.

Hospitals running out of beds: Across the state, 43 hospital intensive care units (ICU) have hit capacity with zero beds available, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). 

Another 32 hospitals have 10% ICU bed availability or less.

14 hospitals have hit capacity of non-ICU beds, and another 54 hospitals have 10% or less non-ICU hospital beds available.

Mass testing: More than 2.23 million people have been tested in Florida since the start of the pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.

For the week of June 29, Florida tested over 400,000 people, DeSantis said on Twitter.

A man rides in front of a Covid-19 health center in Mumbai on July 7.

India recorded 22,252 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, raising the country’s total to 719,665 confirmed cases and 20,160 deaths, according to the health ministry.

This is the fifth consecutive day that the daily new number of infections has increased by more than 20,000 in India.

The new figures come a day after India surged past Russia to become the third hardest-hit country worldwide by the virus, following the US and Brazil in highest case numbers.

More than 439,000 people have so far recovered from the virus, according to the ministry. 

So far, the country has conducted more than 10.2 million tests for coronavirus, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

A health care worker carries a stack of clipboards at a Covid-19 testing site on July 6, in Homestead, Florida.

The United States reported 44,953 new coronavirus cases and 325 new deaths today, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

That raises the national total to 2,936,077 cases and 130,285 related deaths.

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

Follow our live tracker of US cases here:

The Australian state of Victoria recorded 191 new coronavirus cases on Monday – the highest daily jump so far, according to the state’s health department.

Of those new cases, 13 came from nine public housing units where 3,000 residents are in the third day of a “hard lockdown.” Residents are not allowed to leave their homes, and must all undergo mandatory testing.

The state has recorded 22 coronavirus-related deaths so far.

There are now 772 active cases in Victoria, the health department said, adding that nearly 980,000 people have so far been tested for the virus statewide.

Meanwhile, the neighboring state of New South Wales registered seven new cases on Monday.

The national total stands at 8,755 cases with 106 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

A customer has his temperature checked before entering a supermarket in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on June 23.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the mandatory wearing of face masks in public after coronavirus cases continued to rise in recent weeks.

Rouhani announced the new measure on Saturday, which came into effect on Sunday, according to the Iranian state news agency, IRNA.

He said during a meeting of Iran’s coronavirus task force that people would only be able to receive services from the state and other organizations “if they observe protective and health protocols and wear masks.”

Employees could go to work “only if they wear masks and obey different health protocols,” he added. 

According to the Iran’s Health Ministry, the country recorded 2,613 new confirmed cases and 160 new related deaths on Monday.

These figures raise the nationwide total to 243,051 cases and 11,731 deaths.

Workers in personal protective equipment are seen, along side police patrols, on July 7, in Melbourne, Australia.

The Australian city of Melbourne is going back into Stage 3 lockdown for six weeks as it struggles with a spike in coronavirus cases, announced Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews today.

The lockdown will start at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday local time.

People will be only allowed to leave their homes to buy food, go to work, receive or give care, and do exercise, Andrews said.

Elsewhere in Victoria state, the region of Mitchell Shire will also be locked down for six weeks.

Businesses such as restaurants that had reopened will now be forced to close again, the premier said.

The housing towers: Since Saturday, 3,000 residents in nine public housing towers in Melbourne have been under “hard lockdown,” meaning they cannot leave at all. All residents are now being tested, with meals and other necessities provided by the government.

With Melbourne going under Stage 3 lockdown – softer restrictions than a “hard lockdown” – the residents in the towers will be allowed to go outside again for essential activities.

Earlier today, the Victoria health department announced that it recorded 191 new cases on Monday – the highest daily jump so far.

People ride the Staten Island Ferry on as New York City officially begins ‘Phase Three' of opening on July 6, 2020 in New York City.

Silent transmission could be responsible for half of coronavirus cases in the US, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The term “silent transmission” means the virus is transmitted through asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic patients, who are harder to find and trace.

How the study worked: The study, led by Alison Galvani of Yale University and colleagues, used coronavirus transmission models and existing research, which already indicated that asymptomatic infections account for 17.9% to 30.8% of all infections.

Based on these existing figures, the team found that presymptomatic people would account for 47% to 48% of transmission, and asymptomatic people would account for 3.4% to 6.6% of transmission. 

What this means: The team found that even immediate isolation of all symptomatic cases would not be enough to get the spread under control. Authorities would need to identify and isolate more than one-third of silent transmitters, as well as all symptomatic cases, to prevent an outbreak.

Researchers emphasized the need for both testing and contact tracing to safely lift the current social distancing and stay-at-home restrictions.

The California State Assembly has adjourned until further notice after several lawmakers tested positive for coronavirus, a state assembly staff member told CNN on Monday.

The historic Capitol building temporarily closed its doors to allow for deep cleaning, state speaker Anthony Rendon said in an internal email obtained by CNN. There is currently no date set for assembly members to return.

Democratic assembly member Autumn Burke was one of several lawmakers who tested positive, said a spokesperson.

“On July 3rd I received a call from the Assembly Human Resources Department that I had a ‘mask to mask’ exposure to COVID-19 on June 26th,” Burke said in a statement. “I was tested on the morning of July 4th and received my results in the evening that I had tested positive for the coronavirus.”

Nearly all employees in the building have been instructed to work from home for the foreseeable future, said Burke’s chief of staff, Tish Rylander. 

California now has at least 271,013 cases and 6,440 deaths, the second highest figures nationwide after New York state, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US military announced Monday it is sending about 50 medical and support personnel to the San Antonio area of Texas, a sign of rising concern that medical systems may be overwhelmed by the rise in coronavirus cases.

The extra personnel will “provide medical assistance by embedding in medical care facilities in the San Antonio, Texas area. The medical personnel include emergency room and critical care nurses, respiratory specialists and support personnel,” the Northern Command said in a statement.

Earlier in the pandemic, the military had dispatched hundreds of medical personnel to assist in hospitals elsewhere, primarily in the New York City area.

Texas reported 5,318 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s total to 200,557 cases and 2,655 deaths.

A man wearing a face mask holds his dog at downtown Mexico City on July 6.

Mexico’s health ministry reported 480 more Covid-19 deaths on Monday, bringing the country’s death toll to 31,119.

The ministry also recorded 4,902 newly confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 261,750 cases.

On Saturday, Mexico surpassed France’s death toll from the virus, and now has the 5th highest number of deaths worldwide.

Arizona now has more than 100,000 coronavirus cases as the virus continues to rise throughout America’s sun belt, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The state now has 101,441 reported cases. Of this total, about 62,000 patients are younger than 44 years old, the department said in a statement on Monday.

There are 1,810 related deaths statewide, with more than 3,200 patients hospitalized and over 800 ICU patients currently in Arizona hospitals.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she is “still in a state of shock” and “stunned” after she and members of her family tested positive for coronavirus.

Bottoms, her husband, and one of her children have all tested positive. She has “no idea” how the family was exposed, she told CNN on Monday. 

The Atlanta mayor, who has suffered from a headache over the past few days, also said another of her children tested negative and two others still need to be tested.

Before she tested positive, the mayor said she was with her mother, who will get tested again.

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro reacts during a conference with the press and supporters at Alvorada Palace on June 5, in Brasilia, Brazil.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attended a July 4th celebration event with Todd Chapman, the US Ambassador to Brazil, shortly before getting tested for coronavirus.

The event took place on Saturday, according to a photo posted that day to the President’s official Facebook page. In the photo, Bolsonaro is standing in close proximity to several US and Brazilian officials, in what Bolsonaro said was Chapman’s residence.

No one in the photo is wearing a mask. Chapman is seen with his arm around the President; he also shared a photo of the event on Twitter, saying he was “honored” to host Bolsonaro on July 4th.

Bolsonaro was tested for coronavirus on Monday evening, and expects to receive the results on Tuesday, according to a statement from the president’s communication team.

“The President is, at the moment, in good health and at his residence,” the statement added.

Chapman will also be tested for coronavirus. The US Embassy in Brasilia wrote on Twitter late Monday that Chapman will take Covid-19 tests and follow CDC protocols.

Other top US and Brazilian officials were at the event, including the US Defense Attache, Bolsonaro’s secretary of government, and Bolsonaro’s chief of staff. 

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US expert on infectious disease and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, warned on Monday that the country was facing a “serious situation” in part due to reopening too quickly.

“We were averaging about 20,000 new cases a day,” he told National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins during a livestreamed talk.

“And then a series of circumstances associated with various states and cities trying to open up, in the sense of getting back to some form of normality, has led to a situation where we now have record breaking cases. Two days ago it was at 57,500.”

Even the term “wave” is misleading because the number of cases has never dipped back down, only rose to new and alarming levels, he said.

Places like the European Union saw its cases go up, then come back down to a baseline, marking the possible end of a first wave, he said. “We went up, never came down to baseline, and now it’s surging back up. So it’s a serious situation that we have to address immediately.”

A hairdresser works on a customer after reopening amid the easing of quarantine measures on July 6, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

On Monday, Brazil reported 620 new deaths from coronavirus, raising the country’s death toll to 65,487.

Brazil’s health ministry also recorded 20,229 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 1,623,284 cases.

The new figures come as cities around the country start to reopen.

Rio de Janeiro, where more than 10,000 people have died of coronavirus, opened its bars and restaurants over the weekend.

In Sao Paulo, bars, restaurants, and beauty salons also reopened with restrictions on Monday after been closed since March 24. Dining establishments will now have seating areas after previously being restricted to delivery and takeout services.

But new rules and restrictions apply: for example, Sao Paulo bars and restaurants can only operate for 6 hours a day and with a maximum occupancy of 40% capacity.

Brazil continues to follow the US in leading the world’s highest numbers of infections and deaths from the coronavirus.