August 9 coronavirus news

Lebanon has recorded 294 new coronavirus cases and two deaths on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Public Health website. 

The country now has a total of 6,517 cases and a total 76 deaths as it continues to recover from a deadly blast that killed at least 158 people and wounded thousands more last week.

Some context: On Friday, Dr. Friass Abiad, the head of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital (the main hospital battling Covid-19), told CNN that hospitals are at capacity. 

Abiad commended the country’s health sector for how it handled the dual crisis of Covid-19 and the casualties and fallout of Tuesday’s deadly explosion that rocked the capital.  

“The ability of the health sector to rise to the occasion during the explosion, and to absorb thousands of casualties, was impressive. But now, hospitals are full, their supplies are almost empty, and the capacity for their staff is depleted. Can they do more?” Abiad tweeted Saturday.

There were 60 bars and restaurants in the New York City area that were issued Covid-19 violations Friday and Saturday, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. 

Here’s a breakdown of where the violations occurred on Long Island and around the New York City boroughs, according to the governor:

Cuomo also called on the NYPD on Sunday to step-up enforcement of social distancing rules around the city.

The US has reported more than 1,000 deaths from coronavirus daily for the last five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University’s Covid Tracker.

Since July 21, there have been only four days that the US has not reported more than 1,000 deaths.

As of 1 p.m. ET Sunday, 162,635 people with coronavirus have died in the US and 5,017,150 cases have been reported nationwide.

So far, 19,221 new Covid-19 cases and 212 deaths have been reported as of 1 p.m. ET today.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has released a statement reacting to the US surpassing 5 million cases of coronavirus on Sunday. 

Biden encouraged mask-wearing, saying, “I know that for many Americans, especially as the months continue to drag on, there are moments when the losses feel unbearable. But we must not give up. We must follow the science and the advice of medical experts — starting with wearing a mask. That is how we will beat this virus.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee went on to criticize President Trump’s leadership in the statement. 

“And yet, we continue to hear little more from President Trump than excuses and lies in an effort to cover for his repeated failures of leadership — failures that worsened the pandemic here at home, and in turn deepened our economic crisis,” Biden said.

More context: CNN reported Sunday morning that are now at least 5,000,603 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 162,441 people have died from the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at a press conference on April 17.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called President Trump’s executive actions laughable during the state’s daily Covid-19 call. 

These remarks were made after President Trump signed several executive actions, including one that would require states to pay 25% of enhanced unemployment benefits. 

Cuomo went on to say, “there is no funding for schools that are now trying to reopen and according to the white house they want them to reopen, so they need legislation. It’s the only way to do it,” the governor said.

“When you are in a hole, stop digging, “ Cuomo said

e York state has the lowest one day positive infection rate for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday during the state’s Covid-19 call.

New York has an infection rate of 0.78% which is normally around 1% or a little under, the governor said. 

At least 548 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 and seven New Yorkers died from the virus yesterday, the governor said. 

The intensive care unit number is the “lowest number of people we had in ICU units since the start,” Cuomo said. 

eate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Trump’s latest coronavirus relief efforts as being “unworkable, weak, and far too narrow.”

Only one of the actions signed by the President was an order – the rest were memoranda.

Schumer specifically criticized the payroll tax deferral, saying he has already talked to companies who will continue withholding payroll taxes in case they will be forced to pay them when the deferral expires in December. 

“Employers are just going to continue, withhold the money – I have talked to some – because they don’t want their employees to be stuck with a huge bill in December,” Schumer added.

The Senator from New York also criticized the policy for depleting Medicare and Social Security funds. 

“If you’re a Social Security recipient or Medicare recipient, you better watch out if President Trump is re-elected,” Schumer warned.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday” that there would be no cuts in benefits, because there will be an “automatic contribution from the general funds to those trust funds.”

CNN’s Nicky Robertson contributed to this report

Nine Covid-19 cases were reported at North Paulding High School, according to a copy of a letter sent from Principal Gabe Carmona to parents Saturday. 

A spokesperson for the Paulding County School District gave a copy of the letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

CNN is working to get its own copy of the letter to parents.

Some context: This news comes days after a North Paulding High School sophomore posted a photo on Twitter that showed her high school’s hallways crowded with students and very few masks visible.  

The student, Hannah Watters, was later suspended for posting the photos but on Friday, the high school said in a statement that it had “rescinded” the suspension. 

The state of Florida has reported 6,190 new cases of Covid-19 among Floridians and 77 additional resident deaths on Sunday, according to data from the Florida Department of Health (DOH).   

This marks the thirteenth consecutive day the state has reported more than 6,000 cases in a single day, according to CNN’s tally.    

There are now 527,036 cases among residents and 532,806 total cases in the state, which includes out of state residents, DOH reported. Florida has reported 8,186 resident deaths to date, according to DOH data. 

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  

Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaks to the press next to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on August 7.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNN that Democrats will need to be the ones to make the next move if stimulus talks between the administration and congressional Democrats are to restart. He said Democratic leaders need to accept a lower amount of assistance for state and local governments. 

“Anytime they have another offer to make, they can either call me or I’ll go up and see them,” Mnuchin said. “But they have to compromise.”

“I think we’ve been very clear that they need to come back with a compromise on the state and local from their trillion dollars, and the unemployment benefits, and if so we’ll respond. I think the majority of the other issues, we’ve reached a compromise on,” Mnuchin added at the White House on Sunday. 

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Mnuchin said that although governors are asking for money, they do not need $1 trillion.

There are now at least 5,000,603 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 162,441 people have died in the country from virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The university recorded the first case of coronavirus in the US on Jan. 21. It took the country 99 days to reach 1 million cases on April 28. 

It then took 43 more days to reach 2 million cases on June 10, and another 28 days to surpass 3 million cases on July 8.

Most recently, it took the US only 15 additional days to surpass 4 million cases on July 23. It has taken the US 17 days to go over 5 million cases. 

On Sunday, Iraq’s Ministry of Health reported 2,726 new confirmed cases of coronavirus. This brings the total number of cases in Iraq to 150,115, the health ministry said. 

The health ministry also reported 82 coronavirus-related deaths. That brings the total number of deaths in the country to 5,392.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN this morning that her advisers are telling her that President Trump’s proposed executive actions are “absurdly unconstitutional.”

Pelosi responded to comments made in an earlier interview on CNN with Larry Kudlow where the Trump economic adviser clarified that the President’s proposal to give out-of-work Americans $400 a week is contingent upon states agreeing to provide $100. Kudlow said that the federal government would then kick in the additional $300.

Pelosi said these comments by Kudlow show the “weakness and meagerness in what the President proposed,” adding that the states do not have this money.

President Donald Trump signs executive orders during a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on August 8.

President Trump’s directive regarding student loans seems to be the one executive action of the four he took Saturday which will deliver the results the administration hopes.

This is the only area of the four, the others being mortgage relief, unemployment aid and a payroll tax holiday, most under control of the Trump Administration and which doesn’t need Congressional funding action, state governments or the private sector to fully implement.

The memorandum on student aid Trump signed Saturday directs the Education Department to extend the student loan relief granted in the CARES Act until the end of the year.

Some context: Currently, payments are paused and interest is suspended on federally held student loans until September 30.

Democrats have pushed for extending the relief for another year and making private student loans eligible.

In March, Trump waived student loan interest by executive order and the administration said borrowers could request a deferment on their payments. Congress later codified that policy into law and took it a step further by automatically suspending monthly payments.

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN that the administration expects states to be able to cover the portion of enhanced unemployment benefits that President Trump ordered through executive action on Saturday. 

If states don’t agree to participate and meet the financial requirement of paying 25% of the $400 amount, then the unemployed in those states will not receive any of the extra assistance.

Kudlow also acknowledged that some people may not receive the full enhanced benefit depending on where they live, he argued most people would get $400 per week on top of normal unemployment insurance.

“We’re talking about averages here,” Kudlow told CNN’s Dana Bash.

“Our estimates from the Treasury Department in terms of the CARES Act one was that states have not spent all the money that was allocated to them,” Kudlow said, referring to the sweeping stimulus package Congress passed in March.

More details: Kudlow said the White House expects states to use what he described as that “considerable overflow” of previous stimulus funding to pay for the unemployment benefit.

Trump’s order requires states to provide $100 of the $400 enhanced benefit, with the federal government providing the remaining $300. Some experts have said states will not be able to use those funds for this unemployment aid since it is a new program not authorized by Congress.

“We will be repurposing funds from other areas” to pay for the federal portion of the benefit, Kudlow said. “Based on our estimates, the states will be able to provide the extra $100.”

Kudlow defended the President’s order establishing what the White House had described as an eviction moratorium, but which does not actually provide one.

“We’re setting up a process, a mechanism,” Kudlow said of the order.

He said the executive action establishes a process that will allow the Department of Health and Human Services to flag areas of concerning Covid-19 spread, and within those areas the moratorium could apply more broadly.

“If HHS declares emergencies, then evictions will be stopped,” he said. Kudlow noted people living in federally-financed single family homes will continue to be protected.

President Trump on Saturday signed executive actions that would provide $400 a week in federal enhanced unemployment benefits after lawmakers and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a coronavirus stimulus relief bill this week.

Trump’s chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will appear on CNN at 9 a.m. ET to discuss these developments. Watch the interviews live at the top of this story.

Health care workers at a coronavirus testing site in Miami Beach, Florida on June 24, 2020.

The US is nearing five million cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic – and as experts have highlighted in the past, the true number of infections could be many times higher.

The number means the country holds about a fourth of global cases of the virus and also tops the list with the most reported deaths in the world. More than 162,000 Americans have died.

The pandemic shows no sign of slowing and health officials from coast to coast have urged the use of face masks in public places and pleaded with residents to avoid all kinds of social gatherings until the spread of the virus is under control.

As of this week, five states together hold more than 40% of all US infections: California (with the most cases in the country), Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia.

Read the full story here.

A horrifying moment in the Covid-19 pandemic hit Italy on March 27, 2020, when the civil protection authorities announced that 969 people had died in just 24 hours. In the weeks before that, images of coffins stacked up in church parlors and being driven down the streets of the northern Italian town of Bergamo in a caravan of military trucks poured into the homes of Italians, by then locked down for nearly three weeks.

Now, just four months later, life in Italy, the country US Vice President Mike Pence once said “no one wanted to be like,” is nearly back to normal, despite occasional spikes in cases that have been attributed to migrants arriving in the country or living in close quarters.

The death toll has leveled off at just over 35,000, with the number of new reported deaths now less than a dozen most days. The total number of cases now at 250,103 with daily increments in the low hundreds at most.

Nightclubs and schools aren’t yet reopened, face masks are mandatory and social distancing is enforced, but summer is in full swing in this country. People are going out for dinner at restaurants, enjoying the summer tradition of an aperitivo on an open square, going on vacation and generally moving forward. It’s nothing short of a miracle, especially compared to nations like Brazil and the United States, where the pandemic is still very much out of control.

Read the full story:

Groups of tourist in front of the Colosseo in Roma after the lockdown of the nation due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Roma, 14th June, Italy. All the museums re-open to the public and many turist are comming back to visit the city of Roma.

Related article How Italy turned the Covid-19 disaster around

At least nine people died in a blaze at a hotel being used to treat Covid-19 patients in Vijayawada, a city in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday.

According to Vijayawada city police commissioner B Srinivasulu, the fire first broke out on the ground floor of the makeshift hospital, near the reception area and rapidly spread to the first floor.

The incident took place in the Swarna Palace hotel, which has been converted into a temporary Covid-19 facility by a private hospital, added Srinivasulu.

There were 30 coronavirus patients and 12 medical staff in the facility at the time of the incident, he confirmed.

An initial investigation suggests that the fire occurred due to a short circuit at the reception, but a detailed report is still awaited, Srinivasulu said.

The state of Andhra Pradesh has a total of 217,040 Covid-19 cases including 1,939 deaths, according to data released by India’s health ministry on Sunday morning.

UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson made the comments in the in Mail on Sunday newspaper.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that keeping schools closed across the country is “socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”

He added there is a “moral duty” to reopen schools next month for all students despite the continued threat from the coronavirus.

Writing for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson said it was “crucial” for children’s welfare, health and future that they return to the classroom full time. “We can do it – and we will do it. Social justice demands it.”

Most UK schoolchildren have been at home since the government imposed coronavirus lockdown measures in March.

Johnson said time spent out of the classroom could lead to lower educational attainment and have a lasting impact on children’s future life chances.

“Most painfully of all, the costs of school closure have fallen disproportionately on the most disadvantaged, the very children who need school the most,” he wrote.

Teachers’ unions have voiced concerns over the safety of staff and students when schools reopen.

India’s junior minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy Industries, Arjun Ram Meghwal, has tested positive for coronavirus just weeks after promoting a brand of spiced snack called “Bahabhi Ji” papad, which he claimed could ward off the deadly virus.

A video of Meghwal went viral on social media last month where he can be seen holding a packet of the papad product – a thin, crispy, round flatbread – made with ingredients such as turmeric, black pepper, cumin and salt.

In the video, he claimed it helped as an immunity booster against coronavirus.

Meghwal’s unscientific and bizarre claims were ridiculed by many on Indian social media, with one post jokingly saying, “I have started eating Bahabhi Ji papad, now I don’t need a vaccine.”  

As of Sunday morning, India has a total of 2,153,010 coronavirus cases including 43,379 deaths, according to the country’s health ministry. 

A sample is collected at a Covid-19 testing site at Minute Maid Park in Houston, on August, 8.

There were 56,174 new coronavirus cases in the United States in the past 24 hours, According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The US now has at least 4,997,929 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the highest in the world.

There have also been 1,076 new deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins, bringing the total US death toll to at least 162,423 people.

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

For updates on the US numbers, follow CNN’s map which refreshes every 15 mins: 

Motorcyclists ride down Main Street during the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 7.

As hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts descend on the tiny city of Sturgis, South Dakota, for the 80th Strugis Motorcycle Rally, a medical expert has warned the mass gathering has the potential to be a “super spreader event’ that could lead to a large-scale, regional coronavirus outbreak.

Despite the United States having almost 5 million cases of Covid-19, the highest in the world, the huge motorcycle rally is still going ahead as planned. Last year more than 500,000 people attended the annual gathering, this year organizers estimate as many as 250,000 could show up, making it among the largest gatherings worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic.

At the Sturgis Buffalo Chip, a large campground close to the event, the owner, Rod Woodruff, said he’s not concerned about the rally.

“Ride free, take risks. That’s our motto,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t calculate them. And these people calculate their risks every time they get on a motorcycle.”

South Dakota has recorded 9,477 coronavirus cases and 146 deaths as of Saturday, according to the South Dakota Department of Health, far lower than many US states. However, local officials in the area around Strugis, which has a permanent population of around 7,000, have said they are concerned about the potential for the virus to rapidly spread through participants at the 10-day event.

Reiner said he was particularly concerned about what would happen when the rally was over and the participants then headed back to their home states across the US, potentially helping to further spread the highly-infectious coronavirus.

Watch the full interview here:

Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on August 06

As the rest of the world struggles to contain the coronavirus, New Zealand marked 100 days since its last locally transmitted case on Sunday.

In a statement from the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the government said the vast majority of the country’s 1,219 confirmed cases had already recovered.

Only 23 people with coronavirus remained under treatment in isolation facilities across New Zealand.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that while 100 days without community transmission was a “significant milestone,” people couldn’t afford to get complacent.

Schools are reopening, amusement parks are welcoming back visitors, and outdoor dining is the new way to eat out. But despite the signs that life is returning back to normal, the coronavirus pandemic has gone nowhere.

That’s why a group of researchers at Duke University created a simple technique to analyze the effectiveness of various types of masks which have become a critical component in stopping the spread of the virus.

The quest began when a professor at Duke’s School of Medicine was assisting a local group buy masks in bulk to distribute to community members in need. The professor wanted to make sure the group purchased masks that were actually effective.

In the study published Friday, researchers with Duke’s physics department demonstrated the use of a simple method that uses a laser beam and cell phone to evaluate the efficiency of masks by studying the transmission of respiratory droplets during regular speech.

“We use a black box, a laser, and a camera,” Martin Fischer, one of the authors of the study, told CNN. “The laser beam is expanded vertically to form a thin sheet of light, which we shine through slits on the left and right of the box.”

In the front of the box is a hole where a speaker can talk into it. A cell phone camera is placed on the back of the box to record light that is scattered in all directions by the respiratory droplets that cut through the laser beam when they talk.

A simple computer algorithm then counts the droplets seen in the video.

Read the full story here.

Some 250 Covid-19 isolation bays stand at the ready at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas on August 07.

The US inched closer to 5 million cases of Covid-19 on Saturday as experts warned the country is still not doing enough to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“We need to take ownership of this and implement a federal plan by which we bring every state to containment by October,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor and Dean of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, adding that some states have been able to do that already.

“But other parts of the country have a lot of work to do,” Hotez told CNN Saturday.

On Saturday, the California Department of Health reported 7,371 new cases and the Florida Department of Health reported more than 8,400 cases. Health officials in Texas said the state’s seven-day Covid-19 test positivity rate had risen to 19.41% — the highest seven-day average since the pandemic began.

“The point is,” Hotez said, “it’s all doable if we have leadership at the White House that tells us we need to do this.”

The US had more than 4.9 million confirmed cases as of Saturday evening, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Read the full story here.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at the daily briefing in Melbourne, Australia on August 09.

The Australian state of Victoria has confirmed another 394 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed coronavirus cases in the virus-stricken southeastern state to 14,659.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the new numbers at a press conference Sunday.

In addition, Andrews said that 17 more people had died from the virus since the last update – two males in their 50s, four males in their 70s, four females and two males in their 80s and two females and three males in their 90s. 

To date, the death toll in Victoria stands at 210 people. Andrews said that there are 634 Victorians in hospital, 43 of whom are in intensive care.

Melbourne, the Victorian capital and one of Australia’s largest cities, is currently living through the country’s tightest restrictions yet in response to the surge in case numbers.

A curfew has been put in place across the city, requiring people to be indoors from 8 p.m. every night.

Mexico’s Health Ministry reported 6,495 new Covid-19 cases Saturday, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 475,902.

The Health Ministry also announced 695 new deaths. The country’s death toll is now at least 52,006.

Mexico has the world’s 6th highest total number of confirmed cases and the 3rd highest total number of deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

President Donald Trump on Saturday signed executive actions, one of which would provide $400 a week in federal enhanced unemployment benefits after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a United States Coronavirus stimulus relief bill this week.

“I’m taking action to provide an additional or extra $400 a week and expanded benefits, $400. That’s generous but we want to take care of our people,” Trump said at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Trump signed one executive order and three memoranda, one of which will enact a payroll tax deferment for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year. He also proposed to extend an eviction moratorium and defer student loan payments and forgive their interest.

Trump said the federal government will pay $300, leaving it up to the states to pay the remaining $100. He did not outline where the federal funds would be coming from. 

Trump also took the opportunity to criticize the Democrats, saying, “We are doing that without the Democrats. We should have been able to do it easily with them but they want all of these additional things that have nothing to do with helping people.”

Democrats are likely to challenge the executive actions in court. Trump first laid out the executive orders at a hastily called news conference on Friday at his New Jersey golf club, where he said he wasn’t concerned about the legality of the actions he promised.

A phlebotomist wearing protective gloves draws blood from a patient for a Covid-19 antibody test at a GUARDaHEART Foundation testing site in Los Angeles, California, on August 5.

California reported 7,371 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 545,787.

There were 178 new deaths, for a total of 10,189, the California Department of Health said.

The positivity rate across the state remained at 6% over the past 14 days, while the number of patients hospitalized dropped to 5,746.

Some context: Earlier this week, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said California had moved into the “red category,” with more than 10% of tests coming back positive. She also warned about significant movement of the virus in the state’s Central Valley.

Note: These numbers were released by the California 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.

Aerial view of the Vila Formosa Cemetery, in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 6.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro published a photo of himself on his official Facebook account celebrating the victory of his soccer team, Palmeiras, in the Sao Paulo championship, shortly after the Brazilian Health Ministry announced the country’s coronavirus death toll had surpassed 100,000.

The photo shows Bolsonaro wearing a Palmeiras T-shirt and making a hand gesture in the shape of a heart. A message on the photo reads: “Congratulations Palmeiras champion of Sao Paulo 2020.”

Palmeiras won the state title over Corinthians in a game without the presence of spectators Saturday afternoon in Sao Paulo. 

So far, Bolsonaro hasn’t made a public statement about Brazil surpassing 100,000 coronavirus deaths. 

He later attributed the high number of deaths to what he described as an error in diagnosing the cause of deaths in Brazil.

Brazil’s health ministry announced 905 new deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 100,477. The ministry said there were 49,970 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in Brazil to 3,012,412.