July 25 coronavirus news

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pictured at the U.S. Capitol on July 23.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived on Capitol Hill Saturday afternoon for talks on a new coronavirus stimulus bill.

The White House and Senate Republicans are trying to hammer out their differences over a proposal expected to be unveiled next week after an unexpected delay.

Meadows is meeting with the chief of staff of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told CNN. The meeting is more of a check-in because there are a number of items the various parties still need to agree on, the source said.

The primary hold up, two sources told CNN, was differences over the extension of the federal unemployment enhancement, specifically how Republicans would implement their changes to the $600-a-week program that expires July 31.

Both sides are also still going over the legislative text of agreed-upon pieces, which Meadows acknowledged is a time-consuming process.

Some context: McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor late Thursday that the Trump administration asked for more time to review the plan and that it should be out “early next week.”   

“The administration has requested additional time to review the fine details, but we will be laying down this proposal early next week,” he said.

McConnell said that key GOP senators who have helped craft the package will introduce component pieces of the bill on Monday.

There are at least 4,137,411 cases of coronavirus and at least 145,860 people have died from the virus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases in the country.

As of 1 p.m. ET Saturday, 24,880 new cases and 314 new deaths have been reported in the US since midnight. 

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

Miami-Dade County surpassed 100,000 total coronavirus cases, Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) reported on Saturday.

Miami-Dade leads Florida with 101,854 total Covid-19 cases; more than Broward and Palm Beach counties combined, according to DOH data.

Broward County has the second most reported cases in the state with 48,187 and Palm Beach County is third with 29,707, according to the data.

Florida currently has 8,974 Covid-19 hospitalizations statewide; of which 1,874 are in Miami-Dade, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration.  

To note: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that if face masks were “considered to help, then I would do it.”

When asked by a reporter why he doesn’t wear a face mask and how that message would influence people, López Obrador said that it’s not “scientifically proven.”

The World Health Organization and public health experts have emphasized masks are one of the most effective tools to help fight the pandemic.  

López Obrador said the country’s health ministry, lead led by Dr. Jorge Alcocer and Dr. Hugo López-Gatell, advised him not to wear a face mask.

“The main point of all the campaign has been the ‘safe distance,’ and we’ve taken care of this. Dr. Alcocer and López-Gatell have told me that I don’t need to wear a mask if I keep the distance, in the places where is necessary, I’ll wear it,” López Obrador said. 

Some context: Mexico’s health ministry reported 7,573 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, bringing the country’s total to 378,285.

López Obrador has said that the high numbers are due to “increased testing and a delay of the information,” though Mexico has one of the lowest testing rates of any large country worldwide.

The state of Pennsylvania has reported at least 1,054 cases of Covid-19 and 13 additional deaths from the virus, according to a statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Pennsylvania has a total of 106,625 coronavirus cases and 6,384 deaths from the virus, the statement said.

To note: The figures listed were released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Florida has now surpassed New York in total coronavirus cases, according to reports from state health agencies.

Florida health officials have reported that a total of 414,511 cases of coronavirus, including 409,585 residents and 4,926 non-residents, have been diagnosed since the start of the pandemic. 

New York state reported 411,200 total positive cases on Saturday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Florida now has more total cases than New York.

Both Florida and New York are behind California, which currently leads the country in cases with 435,334, according to California’s health department website.

To note: These figures were released by Florida, New York and California’s public health agencies, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hopes to send the coronavirus relief bill to the House in the next two to three weeks.

McConnell said he will begin talking to Democrats as soon as next week on the bill.

When asked about a payroll tax cut being excluded from the bill, McConnell explained that there was bipartisan opposition to the idea.

“I think we are a lot better off to just to send another direct cash payment to those who have been left out of all of this,” he said.

McConnell reiterated that he does not support an extension of the $600 federal unemployment benefits, but does support continuing the traditional state-led unemployment program.

“We’re going to send $100 million to Kentucky for testing, I don’t think we still have enough testing across the country, and we are more than open to spending additional money on testing and treatment and vaccine in the next coronavirus relief bill, if in fact we believe that more funding would be helpful,” McConnell said.

Maryland reported 1,288 new cases of Covid-19 – the highest daily count of new cases since May 19, according to data on the state’s Covid-19 website on Saturday.

On May 19, the state reported 1,784 cases per Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The state has reported a positivity rate of 4.48%, according to its site.

Maryland has a total of 83,054 Covid-19 cases and 3,304 deaths from the virus, the state website said. 

To note: The figures listed were released by the state of Maryland and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The state of Florida has reported 12,115 new cases of Covid-19 and 124 additional deaths on Friday, according to Florida’s Department of Health.  

This is the tenth time since the start of the pandemic that the daily deaths surpassed 100 in Florida, according to CNN’s tally.   

This brings Florida’s total cases to 409,585, according to the department. The statewide death toll is now 5,777, the department added.

Covid-19 hospitalizations fell slightly across New York state as of July 24, according to a tweet from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Covid-19 hospitalizations fell to 646, which is down from 650 reported the day before.

The state reported a 1.05% infection rate after 71,466 people were tested for Covid-19 and 750 of those people were positive, the tweet said.

The state recorded a total of 10 Covid-19 deaths Friday, according to the tweet.

To note: The figures listed were released by the state of New York and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

To note: The figures listed were released by the state of New York and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested negative for coronavirus on Saturday, according to a tweet he sent.

“RT-PCR for Sars-Cov 2: negative. Good day to all,” Bolsonaro tweeted.

Some context: On Wednesday, the Brazilian president said he tested positive for the third time after announcing on July 7 that he was infected.

Gyms and indoor swimming pools in England reopened on Saturday for the first time since restrictions were imposed in March amid the pandemic.

Facilities reopened with social distancing measures in place, complying with official government guidance that says venues should keep “as many people as possible appropriately distanced from those they do not live with.” 

The reopening comes as England continues to ease lockdown measures.

On Friday, face masks in the country became mandatory in shops, supermarkets, banks, post offices, enclosed transport hubs and shopping malls.

The UK has recorded 45,762 coronavirus-related deaths, the third highest fatality toll globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Nurses and doctors have gone to creative extremes to reuse the same masks, gloves and scrubs they need to treat contagious coronavirus patients. But if a prototype mask created by researchers proves widely effective, it may be a safer alternative for health care workers.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have developed the iMASC, a new silicone mask that can be safely reused without fear of contamination. Researchers still need to analyze how effectively it catches viral particles, but it’s a promising step toward addressing the critical health care supply shortages.

The iMASC offers a level of protection comparable to N95 respirator masks, its creators say. That’s partially because it uses an N95 filter without all the additional material of N95 masks that catches particles.

The masks are based on the shape of a typical N95 mask, too, but they’re made with a silicone rubber that can be sterilized after each use. The dual filters that cover the mouth can be replaced after each use, too, the researchers said.

Read more here.

Ninety-one thousand.

Ninety-one thousand lives snatched by an unrelenting pandemic since the first state in the US reopened on April 24.

Ninety-one thousand whose dreams were cut short, plans ended prematurely.

Each one a son or daughter. Someone’s uncle. A best friend. A person who left others to grieve, cry and try to carry on.

Read their stories here.

Emirates, the United Arab Emirates flag carrier, has become the world’s first airline to offer to cover customers’ medical expenses and quarantine costs should they contract Covid-19 during their trip.

The airline will pay medical expenses up to €150,000 ($173,000) and quarantine costs of up to €100 for 14 days, should they be diagnosed with coronavirus during their travel, while away from home.

The cover will be available to all customers, at no extra cost, from now until October 31, 2020. It’s valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first leg of their trip, so passengers can continue to have the benefit even if they travel onwards from their Emirates destination.

Read more here.

The US National Hurricane Center and other NOAA agencies are among those essential organizations that are trying to protect their employees from Covid-19 so they can keep working and putting out life-saving information for American families.

The problem isn’t so much with normal, day-to-day operations, but rather with big events, when staffing at National Weather Service (NWS) offices can often double or triple what it normally is.

“Normal staff for our office is about 2-4 people depending on the shift, but during big events such as tornado outbreaks and tropical systems our staff could surge to 7-8 people,” explains Kyle Thiem, meteorologist at NWS Atlanta office.

Yet adding more people into an enclosed space creates problems in a world with Covid-19. So how do they allow for the added staff while not compromising their safety or the life-saving information they put out?

Read more here.

A medical worker collects a sample from a visitor at a testing center in Seoul, South Korea, on July 24.

South Korea recorded 113 new virus cases on Saturday, the biggest jump in daily new cases since March 31. 

Among the cases, 86 are imported and the other 27 are locally transmitted according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The spike in cases was partially driven by a group of South Korean workers from Iraq who arrived in the country on Friday.

Of the 293 workers, at least 71 have tested positive. Another 211 tested negative and 11 people are still undergoing testing.

The country has 14,092 recorded cases of coronavirus and 298 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan (C) poses with his wife Sadhna Singh (L) on April 24, 2014.

The chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has tested positive for coronavirus.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, the 61-year-old wrote, “My dear countrymen, I was having COVID-19 symptoms and, after a test, my report came back positive. I am following all the guidelines and will quarantine myself based on doctor’s advice.”

Chouhan also appealed to colleagues and individuals to take precautions to avoid infection and urged those who had come into contact with him to get tested.

“I appeal to the people of my state to be careful, just a little carelessness invites the coronavirus. I made every effort to avoid the virus but people used to meet me on many subjects,” he posted.

Chouhan’s diagnosis comes as coronavirus continues to spread rapidly across India, which has recorded more than 1.3 million cases of the virus according to Johns Hopkins University.

Madhya Pradhesh has registered a total of 26,210 cases, including 17,866 recoveries and 791 deaths.

Being obese or heavily overweight increases the risk of death from coronavirus, according to a new report from Public Health England.

Obese people are not at greater risk of catching the virus itself but are significantly more likely to become seriously ill and be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with the virus compared to those with a healthy body mass index (BMI).

The risk of hospitalization, ICU admission and death grows as a person’s BMI increases, the report found.

Researchers found that overall exercise levels in England had not increased during the pandemic and that sales of snacks and alcohol in high street shops grew during the same period of time.

The report summarises a range of evidence, including one study which found that for those with a BMI of 35 to 40, risk of death from coronavirus increases by 40% compared to those not living with obesity. That risk rises to 90% for those with a BMI over 40.

Almost two-thirds of adults in England are overweight or obese, with people aged 55 to 74, those living in deprived areas and certain black, Asian and minority ethnic groups more severely affected.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to maintain a healthy weight during a visit to a doctor’s surgery on Friday.

Johnson was questioned over a reports his government may ban television junk food adverts before 9 p.m.

“I’m not normally a believer in nannying or bossying type of politics but the reality is that obesity is one of the real co-morbidity factors. Losing weight is frankly one of the ways that you can reduce your own risks from Covid-19,” Johnson said.

The British leader was hospitalized and admitted to an ICU earlier this year after contracting coronavirus.

He told journalists on Friday that since his illness he had lost more than 6kg in weight by eating less and doing lots of exercise.

Health care workers move a patient in the Covid-19 Unit at a hospital in Houston.

Coronavirus symptoms can stick around for weeks, even in otherwise healthy people who don’t have a severe case of the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a grim new analysis.

The CDC surveyed 292 people who tested positive for the virus, and 35% said they still weren’t back to their usual good health even two or three weeks after testing positive.

While older people were more likely to feel prolonged symptoms, even young adults without underlying conditions reported feeling unwell for a long period of time, the CDC said.

The new understanding into how the virus affects patients comes as more than 4.1 million cases of coronavirus cases and 145,539 deaths have been reported in the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Read more here.

A health worker takes a patient's temperature before sending them to a tent to be tested at a Covid-19 testing site in Los Angeles on July 24.

On Friday, the United States recorded 73,715 new cases of Covid-19 and 1,130 deaths, according to information provided by Johns Hopkins University.

The US has now recorded a total of 4,112,531 coronavirus cases, of which at least 145,546 people have died. The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

The three worst hit states, New York, California and Florida, have each recorded more than 400,000 cases. Texas has recorded over 380,000 cases and the next worst-hit state, New Jersey, has recorded more than 178,000 cases.

For more information on the updated US tally, visit CNN’s virus map, which pulls data provided by JHU every 15 minutes.

A 57-year-old man has tested positive for Covid-19 in Da Nang a city in central Vietnam according to a statement from the country’s health ministry.

Prior to this infection being detected, Vietnam had recorded 100 days without a locally transmitted infection according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

The infected man had no international travel history, and had been living in Da Nang for the past month, the health ministry said. He presented with symptoms of fever and cough on July 20. After completing four health screenings, where he tested positive, the man was sent to Da Nang’s disease control center for treatment and isolation.

Around 100 people who were close contacts of the man have been tested, the results of which have come back negative, the VNA report said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media during a daily briefing in Melbourne, Australia on July 25.

More than 300 hospital workers have become infected with Covid-19 in the Australian state of Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews said Saturday, as another 357 new cases of the virus were detected.

Five Victorians died as a result of the coronavirus Friday, the youngest in her 60s, Andrews said. Of the state’s almost 4,000 active cases, 313 are health workers, and 536 are people in aged care settings, both staff and residents.

Andrews said the state faces significant challenges in keeping hospitals staffed and maintaining the safety of aged care residents.

The city of Melbourne and neighboring Mitchell Shire are under “Stage 3” restrictions, meaning residents can only leave their homes to buy food, go to work, exercise, or give and receive care.

Andrews said Saturday that a decision to mandate masks in public places is “essentially stage four” of the restrictions, adding “if they are worn by everybody then we may not need to go further.”

Since the pandemic began, 7,744 cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Victoria, some 3,000 of which have since recovered.

Neighboring New South Wales, previously Australia’s worst hit state, recorded 15 new cases on Friday.

New Zealand Police have detained five people and charged four after they absconded from a managed isolation facility in the city of Hamilton, in the country’s North Island, according to a statement from Assistant Commissioner Scott Fraser.  

Four of the five people have appeared in court on Saturday and been charged with breaching the Health Act notice, they have been granted bail and returned to isolation facilities. 

New Zealand Police said they committed a “considerable number of resources” – including the deployment of an Eagle Helicopter – in the effort to locate the people who escaped from the Distinction Hotel in Hamilton, which is being used to quarantine people who have recently returned from overseas and are required to complete mandatory two-week stay. 

More than 2,100 anti-Asian, pandemic-related hate incidents have been documented and submitted to Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center founded by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council since its launch in March.

Stop AAPI Hate has recorded incidents ranging from verbal harassment and physical assault to civil rights violations.

“This is not just a pandemic of health but a pandemic of hate that is attacking our AAPI communities around the country,” said California Assembly member David Chiu during a Stop AAPI Hate news conference on July 1.

CNN previously reported that attacks on Asian people or people who appear to be East Asian have intensified after the coronavirus outbreak began in China.

Even the FBI has concerns. In April, in a letter to law enforcement officials, FBI Director Christopher Wray wrote that his agency remains “concerned about the potential for hate crimes by individuals and groups targeting minority populations in the United States who they believe are responsible for the spread of the virus.

Read the full story here.

A medical worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), center, speaks with a visitor from inside the Covid-19 safety booth in the walk-thru testing center at H Plus Yangji Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, on July 24.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 113 new virus cases on Saturday, the biggest jump in daily new cases since March 31. 

Among the 113 new cases, 86 are imported and 27 are locally transmitted, according to the KCDC. 

Local health officials had warned that 293 South Korean workers from Iraq who arrived on Friday would contribute to a surge in new numbers and so far, 36 of them have tested positive.

As of Saturday, 928 people are in quarantine in South Korea, the country’s death-toll, meanwhile remains at 298. 

The new cases brings the country’s tally of infections to 14,092, with 12,866 having recovered according to the KCDC.

At least one man has been hospitalized in Delaware after 12 people were inadvertently given incorrect Covid-19 test results, according to state officials. 

“In partnership with Walgreens, 2,791 samples were collected for processing through the Delaware Public Health Lab in the first week of testing. In the process of results delivery, 12 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 were inadvertently given negative results by phone due to an internal DPH system error,” a statement from the Delaware Department of Health said. 

The Health Department said that while incorrect results were given over the phone, the correct test results were reported into their surveillance system and were included in statewide testing numbers and the state’s contact tracing system. The state’s health department also said they wanted to assure the public that this was not an error that occurred on site at the Walgreens testing sites. 

Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Tom Frieden uses hand sanitizer during a hearing on May 6 in Washington.

The first concern with a vaccine to prevent coronavirus infection will be safety, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday.

“This is the first time we’ve had an anti-vaccine movement before we’ve had the vaccine,” Frieden said in a podcast sponsored by the online news site Axios.

That makes it important to be honest and open with people about the risks, he said. 

One concern is a potential immune reaction to vaccination, he said. “Because some of the adverse outcomes from Covid-19 are immune-regulated, and that raises the theoretical concern that something like the Kawasaki-like illness that you’re seeing in rare instances of childhood illness could be a rare adverse event of vaccination,” he said.

Frieden said if a coronavirus vaccine is approved, he’d get one. “If there’s enough vaccine enough to provide for essential workers and particularly health care workers first and it’s demonstrated to be safe and effective, I’d be delighted to get vaccinated,” Frieden said.

“There are a lot of hurdles to get over before we actually have a vaccine available, proven to be effective, demonstrated to be safe and widely used,” he added. “First and foremost is safety and efficacy,” he said. “Does it work, how well, for whom, for how long and is it safe?”

So far 25 vaccines are in human trials around the world and 141 more are in preclinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

But a vaccine will not be the only solution to the pandemic. “I think what we have to get past is the idea that there is one thing that’s going to make Covid go away,” Frieden said.

Lounge chairs sit stacked on a beach while temporarily closed in Nassau, Bahamas, on Friday, April 24.

Following a warning of a “grave health crisis,” the Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced the country would go into an emergency weekend lockdown after a surge in Covid-19 cases since reopening on July 1. 

On Friday, the Bahamian Ministry of Health reported 42 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total so far to 316.

Minnis said that other than essential workers, all Bahamians would be required to remain in their homes through the weekend. Exceptions would be made for people to buy food and seek medical aid, he added.

All religious services, dining in restaurants and social gatherings are canceled through the weekend, Minnis said, adding that the Bahamas will likely continue to institute lockdowns during the weekends moving forward.

Minnis also announced he was reversing an order that went into effect Wednesday that banned commercial air travel from the US to the Bahamas.

Instead, he said, the Bahamas would not block tourists from any country but visitors would be required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and then test negative for the virus. 

Minnis urged Bahamians not to travel to coronavirus “hotspots” in “neighboring countries.”

Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of food and drugs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first coronavirus test for asymptomatic Covid-19 cases and for those who don’t think they’re infected with the virus at all.

The agency reissued an emergency use authorization for a LabCorp Covid-19 RT-PCR test after the company provided scientific proof that the test was able to detect the virus in asymptomatic individuals. The RT-PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus so it’s detectable.

The emergency use authorization also allows the test to be used on pooled samples.

“Today’s authorization eliminates the need for a provider to consider risk factors such as exposure or community spread when prescribing this test,” the FDA said in a statement.

The test could be a game changer for hospitals, businesses, schools and others, the FDA said.

The FDA’s emergency use authorization for the LabCorp test also allows the company to test pooled samples of up to five individual swabs at a time to help test more samples using fewer testing supplies, which are in high demand and short supply in some areas.

“By authorizing another test for use with pooled samples, we also further help increase the possibility that patients may be able to receive results sooner, while also conserving vital testing supplies, which are under increased demand during the pandemic,” Hahn said.

The test is only available through a prescription, the FDA said, and is only authorized for sample collection with LabCorp’s test kits or by a health provider.

The test first received an emergency use authorization in mid-March for testing only on people suspected of having Covid-19 and was not authorized for pool testing.

A health department worker collects patient data from people waiting in line for Covid-19 testing, at a mobile diagnostic tent in Mexico City on July 24.

Mexico’s health ministry announced 7,573 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, bringing the nationwide total to 378,285.

The ministry also reported 737 new deaths due to the virus, raising the country’s death toll to 42,645.

Despite the rising number of new cases, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reiterated his claim Friday that the coronavirus pandemic is “losing steam” in the country and attributed the new case numbers to an increase in testing capacity and a delay in updating the new cases.

“We need to find a balance between health and economic situation, reopening carefully, practicing all the protocols, but we can’t stay immobilized. If we open and there’s an outbreak, we will close again,” Obrador said.