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Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases WFSB
Over the weekend and through today, the novel coronavirus pandemic continued to surge through many states, including Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
In total the United States has 2,564,163 COVID-19 cases and 125,928 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker. And the New York Times reports that US cases are up 76% over the past 2 weeks.
In states like California—which has been battling the pandemic since March—increasing case counts led to the closing of bars in select cities. Elsewhere, cities such as Nashville are making masks mandatory. And in at least 12 states, including Washington, Arizona, and Texas, governors have "paused" reopening local economies any further.
On Sunday news shows, health officials and policy experts offered stern warnings on the spread. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Director Alex Azar said yesterday on CNN that the US's window for controlling the virus is closing.
"Things are very different from two months ago... So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control," Azar said.
While case counts and hospitalizations have risen across much of the country, mortality rates have not. Scott Gottlieb, MD, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said on CNBC he expects death rates to rise in the next 3 to 4 weeks as fatalities occur after a significant lag in case identification.
Gottlieb also said he expected up to half of the US population could be infected by the end of 2020.
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said Floridians aged 18-44 are responsible for the state's recent spike in cases, and cases in young adults make him worry less about an increasing fatality rate. Yesterday Florida tracked more than 8,500 new cases of the virus, and is currently averaging 38 deaths per day, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The state has a total of 141,075 cases.
Though DeSantis said statewide mask requirements are not necessary, some cities, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, have required facial coverings. And several popular beaches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are closing in anticipation of the Fourth of July weekend.
Today Jacksonville, Florida's largest city and the presumed site of the Republican National Convention in August, said masks will be mandatory in public and indoor locations.
At a visit yesterday to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Vice President Mike Pence wore a mask and implored others to do so as well in an effort to curb rising cases of the virus. But earlier in the day Pence appeared at First Baptist Church in Dallas, where a 100-person choir of unmasked singers performed.
Today Texas reported its 6th consecutive day of more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Texas Tribune.
Also today, HHS announced an agreement to secure the antiviral drug remdesivir for the United States from Gilead Sciences through September.
According to a press release, HHS has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through September. This represents 100% of Gilead's projected production for July and 90% of the company's production in August. On average, a treatment course for the drug is 6.25 vials.
The announcement comes with the final allocation of Gilead's approximately 120,000 donated treatment courses being shipped to US hospitals.
A study based in a Louisiana correctional and detention facility shows that serial testing of all those exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, revealed more cases than testing of symptomatic case contacts. The study was published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
After a prison employee and some inmates tested positive for COVID-19, inmates were quarantined and tested for the virus. Among 98 incarcerated and detained persons who were quarantined because of exposure to the virus, 71 (72%) had laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection identified through serial testing, the authors said. Of those, 45% had no symptoms at the time of testing.
"The high attack rate within these five dormitories and the large proportion of asymptomatic persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection suggest that serial testing of close contacts, including those in congregate settings, should begin immediately after identification of a case to limit further transmission," the authors concluded.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered the closure of bars, gyms, movie theaters, nightclubs and water parks across the state for 30 days in an effort to combat a spike in coronavirus cases.
"Our numbers continue to increase," Ducey said at a Monday news conference in Phoenix. "In Arizona, they're going in the wrong direction and we're going to take some additional action today to contain this virus and get back on track."
He also re-imposed a ban on indoor and outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people. He said the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control will suspend special-event licenses. Cities and counties will have the authority to approve large events, but only if certain protocols are met.
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Groups larger than 10 people are also prohibited from congregating at public swimming pools. Private pools in apartments and multi-housing complexes must post signage requiring social distancing and limiting groups of 10 or more, according to the order.
Ducey also delayed the start of school until Aug. 17. During his announcement, he pleaded with Arizonans to wear masks and to stay at home when possible to reduce the risk of transmission.
"Remember, you are safer at home," Ducey said. "If you don't need to go out, don't go out."
His orders can be extended if the number of COVID-19 cases doesn't decline by a significant margin, he said.
Most bars and nightclubs reopened after Ducey let his stay-at-home and business closures expire in May. Bars that don't serve food were allowed to reopen, a loophole that led to packed venues and almost no way to practice social distancing, according to The Associated Press.
Arizona is one of a handful of states to re-impose restriction amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases after reopening its economy. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered bars closed and the reduction of restaurant service last week after its coronavirus infection rate hit nearly 12 percent.
Other states are scaling back their planned reopenings amid the coronavirus surge.
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In Miami-Dade County, officials announced the closure of its pristine beaches ahead of the busy July 4 weekend, less than a month after reopening.
Arizona officials announced 3,858 additional COVID-19 cases Sunday, the most reported in a single day since the pandemic took hold in the state. Statewide, health officials reported more than 74,500 coronavirus cases as of Monday, as well as more than 1,580 deaths.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference earlier this week in Geneva. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The head of the World Health Organization is warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is actually speeding up and he criticized governments that have failed to establish reliable contact tracing to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking at a briefing in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is this is not even close to being over."
"Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up," he said.
He said the solution is the same as it has been since the early days of the pandemic: "Test, trace, isolate and quarantine."
"If any country is saying contact tracing is difficult, it is a lame excuse," he said.
According to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 10 million confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide since the virus was first identified in China late last year, with more than a half-million deaths. The U.S. alone accounts for more than one-quarter of all confirmed cases, with nearly 126,000 deaths.
"If any country is saying contact tracing is difficult, it is a lame excuse," says @WHO Chief @DrTedros, pointing out that many public health professionals have risked their lives to do contact tracing in active conflict zones, including @DrMikeRyan when fighting #Ebola in DRC. pic.twitter.com/ka8vbLrAUL
— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) June 29, 2020
"[The] lack of national unity and lack of global solidarity and the divided world ... is actually helping the virus to spread," Tedros said. "[The] worst is yet to come."
"I'm sorry to say that, but with this kind of environment and conditions we fear the worst," he said.
The head of WHO's emergencies program, Mike Ryan, said there had been "tremendous work" toward a coronavirus vaccine but said there's no guarantee of success.
In the U.S., a spike in coronavirus infections has been driven in part by people unwilling to heed public health guidelines to wear masks and continue social distancing.
Currently, the U.S. leads the world in both coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths. Brazil ranks second in the number of infections, followed by Russia, India and the United Kingdom.
President Trump has been highly critical of the WHO, accusing it of helping China cover up the extent of the pandemic within its borders. Earlier this month, the president announced that the U.S. was "terminating" its decades-long relationship with the WHO and would withdraw vital U.S. funding.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Allegheny County officials say they are banning on-site consumption of alcohol following a recent surge of new Coronavirus cases.
“For the first time since COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the state, Allegheny County led the state in the number of new COVID-19 cases,” said County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. “We’re going the wrong direction. While most resident and businesses have been following the rules, these requirements and mitigation measures address the hot spots that have been identified during case investigations. These are severe steps, but we have to take steps now to limit the community spread that endangers those who are older, high-risk or otherwise immunocompromised.”
The order for bars to end on-site serving of alcohol was put into effect immediately and will begin being enforced at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The order will apply to any business establishment in Allegheny County.
Bars will be permitted to still serve food on-site and can offer to-go cocktails. However, people cannot consume alcohol on the premises of bars. South Side and Oakland are particular areas of concern, according to Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen.
The Allegheny County Health Department also announced that complaints regarding establishments not following the order can be sent through a webform on their website or via email at COVIDcomplaints@alleghenycounty.us.
“I know Dr. Bogen and her team — we do not make these decisions lightly,” Fitzgerald said. “We know how important the economy is, we know how important the restaurant and bar economy is to our region. We want them to succeed. We want them to succeed safely.”
Other restrictions from the county include that masks must be worn by patrons unless they are eating or drinking at the establishment. Any businesses that violate these restrictions will be investigated by the county and forced to shut down for at least a week. Restaurants are asked to maintain physical distancing, decrease occupancy to 50% and prioritize outdoor seating.
Bogen recommended a 14 day period of self-isolation for people who travel out of state or to have two negative COVID-19 tests with at least 48 hours apart from the first test.
The announcement came as a disappointment to Richard Rattner, who owns the William Penn Tavern in Shadyside.
“It’s not fair to my staff,” he said. “A lot of them were on unemployment, they came off unemployment. Now they’re going to have to go back on unemployment.”
Rattner said he believes all the bars and restaurants in Allegheny County are being punished for the actions of a few who weren’t following state orders and weren’t cited for it.
“If they maybe would have made examples down the road, a couple weeks ago,” Rattner said. “A lot more people would have been in compliance as well as the fact that we wouldn’t be having this arbitrary decision made against bars.”
The health department reported a new daily record of 96 new Coronavirus cases in a day on Sunday. On Saturday, the health department reported 90 new COVID-19 cases. Total cases have reached 393 during the week.
“We don’t want to do the next shutdown, but we may have to if these numbers don’t improve over the coming days so we’re going to continue to monitor this, we’re going to continue to have our contact tracing,” Fitzgerald said. “Until we have a vaccine until we have a cure we’re going to be in this situation. There’s going to be good weeks and bad weeks, good days and bad days, things that are going to open up, things that might get shut down, things that might get shut down temporarily or things that might get shut down permanently.”
Stay with KDKA as we follow this developing story.
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It can sometimes seem as if the entire world is suffering from a new coronavirus outbreak. There have been cases at food markets in Beijing, nightclubs in South Korea, meatpacking plants in Britain and Germany, nail salons in Ontario, and restaurants, bars and churches across the southern and western United States.
But these outbreaks are not all the same. The ones in the U.S. are of a larger order of magnitude than those in any other affluent country.
Consider this chart, which shows the number of new cases per week, adjusted for population size:
(Lines for China and South Korea would look roughly similar to Japan’s.)
Most other high-income countries are dealing with modest numbers of new cases — often an inevitable consequence of reopening — and the countries are responding aggressively. Many are following the advice of public health experts, ordering social distancing, mask-wearing and partial lockdowns and doing their best to track people who came in contact with new patients.
The United States is not. President Trump and many governors continue to flout scientific advice and send mixed messages about the seriousness of the virus.
The federal government, as The Washington Post explained in a helpful reconstruction, has failed to offer “the kind of clear and consistent messaging experts say is necessary to mount a successful public health response.”
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, put it this way: “From the very beginning, this outbreak has really been mismanaged in terms of what the government response should have been.” That quote appeared in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation article headlined: “The lessons Canada can take from the U.S.’s mishandling of Covid-19.”
Another country that highlights the lessons is Britain. Its prime minister, Boris Johnson, has taken the virus less seriously than most other European leaders but more seriously than Trump. Sure enough, Britain is suffering an outbreak that’s worse than in most of Europe but not as bad as in the U.S.
A final point: Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have claimed that the rise in confirmed U.S. cases is largely the result of more tests. That’s not true, as The Times explains. The U.S., which once trailed Europe in per capita overall deaths, has now endured many more.
In other virus developments:
Worldwide deaths from the virus have exceeded 500,000 and confirmed cases have exceeded 10 million.
In Florida, the daily case count has increased fivefold in two weeks. “Much of Florida’s new surge in cases appears to follow from the reopening of beaches, bars, restaurants and other social activities,” Frances Robles writes from Miami.
Coronavirus patients in intensive care have experienced paranoid and often terrifying hallucinations that can slow recovery and increase the risk of depression.
On Sunday, the Mississippi legislature passed a bill to abolish the state’s current flag, the last in the country to feature the Confederate battle emblem. The decision was partly economic: Business leaders in the state feared they could lose investments from outsiders, including the N.C.A.A.
A state commission will design a new flag, which the bill says must include the words “In God we trust.”
In other protest news:
At least 70 people have died in law enforcement custody over the last decade after saying, “I can’t breathe,” The Times has found. Here are some of the cases you probably haven’t heard about.
Trump retweeted a video yesterday of one of his supporters yelling “White power!” He later deleted the tweet.
Even after learning in March that the Russian military offered bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers, the Trump administration has continued to treat Russia favorably. Heather Cox Richardson, a historian at Boston College who writes an excellent newsletter, has cataloged that recent treatment, including:
A high-profile U.S. purchase of Russian medical supplies, which Vladimir Putin used to call for an end of sanctions on Russia.
A joint Putin-Trump statement in April about “trust” between the two countries.
A friendly phone call between the leaders.
Trump’s efforts to invite Russia to the next Group of 7 meeting.
Context: Michael Schwirtz, one of the Times reporters who broke the story about the bounties, tweeted: “Election meddling and the occasional poisoning are one thing. Paying the Taliban to kill American troops, that’s something entirely new.”
And the latest development: U.S. spies and commandos alerted their superiors about the bounties as early as January, after finding large amounts of cash at a Taliban outpost.
President Barack Obama wanted to keep a low political profile after he left office. In recent months, though, he has taken an increasingly active role. He speaks with Joe Biden frequently, offering suggestions on staffing and strategy.
People close to Obama told The Times that he has been wary of overshadowing Biden. But one Biden associate joked: “By all means, overshadow us.”
Coca-Cola, Starbucks and several other major companies have temporarily stopped advertising on Facebook. The boycott, spurred by civil rights organizations, is an effort to pressure the social media giant to crack down on hate speech and misinformation.
At least three people were killed today after gunmen stormed Pakistan’s stock exchange in the city of Karachi. A separatist group, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility.
The federal government gave Boeing approval to start test flights of its 737 Max jet, which was grounded in March 2019 after a pair of fatal crashes.
Marty Baron made The Washington Post great again. Now Baron — its top editor — is dealing with fierce cultural crosscurrents there, Ben Smith, The Times’s media columnist, writes.
The New England Patriots signed the quarterback Cam Newton. Separately, the N.F.L. stripped the Patriots of a third-round draft pick for videotaping another team’s practice.
Lives Lived: The movie “The Graduate” helped define the 1960s. The story of the man who wrote the novel, Charles Webb, is even more fascinating. He has died at 81.
Starting today, we’re often going to use this middle section to highlight fascinating ideas and arguments we’ve come across, in The Times and elsewhere.
Of all the major sports leagues, the National Basketball Association has the healthiest relationship with its players. It doesn’t suffer repeated labor conflicts, as baseball does. And it doesn’t subject its players to short, body-damaging careers, as pro football does. The relative peace between players and owners is one reason the N.B.A. has thrived in recent seasons.
What explains that peace?
The N.B.A. has figured out how to balance competitive capitalism with regulatory oversight. Or, as a short and charming new video from a Times Opinion team argues, the N.B.A. has injected just enough socialism.
Every few years, players and owners negotiate over what share of total revenue the players will receive. (It’s now 50 percent.) With that number set, the two sides then have the same incentive: maximize league revenue. In baseball, by contrast, players and owners are in a constant struggle over how much each side will get, as the messy negotiations about a virus-shortened season showed.
The N.B.A. also requires big-market teams to subsidize poorer teams and then sets both a salary floor and ceiling for each team. That ensures players get their share of money while also keeping the teams in Los Angeles and New York from dominating. Cleveland and San Antonio have won recent titles, and Milwaukee has the best record this season.
The N.B.A. isn’t perfect, as the video makes clear. But the league does seem to grasp a basic economic idea: Regulated capitalism, with careful attention to incentives, has a better track record than any other system.
This one-pan recipe by Yewande Komolafe for crispy tofu with toasted cashews and snap peas comes together in just 30 minutes. You can also swap the tofu for another protein, like chicken thighs or pork shoulder. But the tofu is really the star here: It’s the perfect vehicle for the ginger and coconut milk-rich sauce. Asparagus, broccoli or pretty much anything fresh and green can replace the snap peas, too.
The actor’s new book includes a protagonist named Jim Carrey who borrows many details from his career. But it’s a novel, not a memoir, written with Dana Vachon and called “Memoirs and Misinformation.” Bouncing between fact and fiction, it pokes fun at Hollywood’s narcissistic culture, with cameos from Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow and a thinly veiled stand-in for Tom Cruise named “Laser Jack Lightning.”
“It’s the end of the world, and we have the perfect book for it,” Carrey told The Times. “Not the end of civilization,” he continued. “Just the end of a world, the selfish world.”
“When people talk about the relationship between people of color and their barbers, they tend to forget that it’s not just that they raise your self-esteem and help you look good — they are people you can also share your life with, and who can share their life with you,” writes Claudio E. Cabrera, in a photo essay of barbershop before-and-afters.
“Your barber is your part-time therapist, and sometimes you are his,” he continued.
As salons and barbershops opened up in New York City last week, residents talked about getting their cut.
Listen to some new music, including a previously unreleased Prince track.
“Hamnet,” Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare, and a memoir by the longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek are among 16 books to watch for next month.
Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Operating system with a penguin logo (five letters).
You can find all of our puzzles here.
Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David
P.S. Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, joined the Longform Podcast and spoke about the recent protests, the Tom Cotton Op-Ed and his own experiences as a black journalist.
You can see today’s print front page here.
Today’s episode of “The Daily” includes a police union official’s perspective on the push to overhaul policing in the U.S. On the latest Book Review podcast: A short guide to “The World,” with Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Subscribers help make Times journalism possible. To support our efforts, please consider subscribing today.
Ian Prasad Philbrick and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.
PRAGUE — The number of new coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic continues to surge.
The day-to-day increase reached 305 on Sunday, the highest number since April 3.
The Czech Republic had a total of 11,604 confirmed cases of the virus through Sunday, including 348 deaths, according to Health Ministry figures.
Because of the increase in cases, Prague, the capital, and a region in the country’s northeast will remain under orders to wear face masks beyond July 1, when the order will be lifted for the rest of the country, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said Monday.
In Prague, it will still be compulsory to wear face coverings on the subway and at indoor public gatherings of more than 100 people.
In the northeastern region, face masks will remain mandatory in indoor public spaces, on public transport and at gatherings of more than 100 people. The outbreak in that region is linked to miners from a coal mine, their relatives and their other contacts.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Virus cases worldwide hit 10 million
— Businesses weigh reopening – or close again – as reported virus cases rise
— Experts see no proof of child-abuse surge amid pandemic
— A divided Poland holds presidential vote delayed by pandemic, while France holds municipal elections
— Nurses, doctors feel strain as virus races through Arizona
— The pandemic means that millions of women in Africa and other developing regions could lose years of success in contributing to household incomes, asserting their independence and expanding financial inclusion.
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
MADRID — Spain’s foreign minister says that the European Union is putting together a list of 15 countries that are not bloc members and whose nationals will be allowed to visit from Wednesday.
The final list will be announced later on Monday or Tuesday morning, Arancha González Laya told Spain’s Cadena SER radio.
She said she wasn’t aware of pressure from the United States for the EU to reopen travel to their nationals, adding that countries have been chosen according to their coronavirus statistics — whether similar or not to that in the EU — trends of contagion and how realiable data is.
“This is not an exercise to be nice or unfriendly to other countries, this is an exercise of self-responsibility,” González Laya said.
Among the countries being discussed is Morocco, whose government doesn’t plan to open borders until July 10. González Laya said that the EU is considering to accept travelers from China if Beijing reciprocates accepting travelers from the EU starting on July 1.
The minister also confirmed that Spain will fully reopen borders with Portugal, despite a spike in infections in the neighboring country.
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NEW DELHI — India on Monday reported nearly 20,000 new coronavirus infections, a new record for the country, as several states reimpose partial or full lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus.
India has seen a jump of nearly 100,000 cases over the past week, the health ministry said. In all, the country has confirmed 548,318 cases, making it the world’s fourth-worst affected country after the United States, Brazil and Russia. India’s death toll has reached 16,475.
The capital district of the northeastern state of Assam on the Bangladesh border has reimposed a full lockdown until July 12 following a spike in cases. Another border state, West Bengal, has extended its lockdown until July 31.
However, in India’s worst-affected states — Maharashtra, which includes India’s financial capital, Mumbai, and Delhi, home to the capital, New Delhi — most lockdown restrictions have been eased, with restaurants, shopping malls and parks reopened, and public buses and shared-ride services back on the roads.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Civil aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirates have suspended all flights to Pakistan over fears about the spread of the coronavirus.
The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency issued a statement late Sunday from the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority announcing the decision.
Officials said flights would resume after the creation “of a special laboratory” to conduct coronavirus tests for those coming into the Emirates from Pakistan.
The decision comes after Pakistani media last week reported 27 passengers originating from Pakistan arrived in Hong Kong and tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. The passengers had transited through the UAE.
Pakistan restarted international travel earlier this month even as its critics said the airport precautions were limited and ineffective.
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MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials say authorities in a central village may face criminal or administrative complaints for allowing a street parade and dance amid a strict coronavirus lockdown.
Mayor Edgar Labella of Cebu city said officials of Basak village have been ordered to explain why the religious fiesta gathering in honor of St. John the Baptist was held Saturday despite a quarantine prohibition against public gatherings. Performers in native wear and face masks danced during the night procession, which drew a large crowd.
While the Philippines has eased quarantine restrictions in most regions to revive its contracting economy, officials placed Cebu city back under a strict lockdown this month and deployed more policemen to enforce restrictions following a spike in infections.
The Philippines remains a Southeast Asian coronavirus hotspot with more than 35,000 confirmed infections, including 1,244 deaths.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 42 new infections of COVID-19 as infections steadily climb in the greater capital area, forcing authorities to consider stronger social restrictions.
The figures announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday brought the national caseload to 12,757, including 282 deaths. Twenty-four of the new cases were reported from capital Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, which have been at the center of a virus resurgence since late May. At least 12 of the new cases were linked to international arrivals as the virus continues to strengthen its hold in southern Asia, the United States and beyond.
South Korea was reporting hundreds of new cases a day in late February and early March following a major surge surrounding the southeast city of Daegu, where the majority of infections were linked to a single church congregation with thousands of members.
But while health authorities had used aggressive testing and contact tracing to contain the outbreak in that region, they are having a much harder time tracking recent transmissions in the Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of the country’s 51 million people live. With people increasingly venturing out in the public, new clusters are popping out from just about everywhere, including nightspots, churches, restaurants, warehouses and among door-to-door salespeople.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo during a briefing Sunday afternoon announced that the government is prepared to implement stronger social distancing measures if the epidemic continues to grow.
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BEIJING — China on Monday reported a further decline in new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a total of just 12, including seven cases of domestic transmission in Beijing, where nearly 8.3 million people have now undergone testing in recent weeks. The number of new cases in the city was down by half from the day before, the National Health Commission reported.
No new deaths were reported Monday, leaving the total at 4,634 among 83,512 confirmed cases of COVID-19, . Currently 418 patients are in treatment, and another 112 are under observation for being suspected cases or for testing positive without showing any symptoms.
Beijing temporarily shut a huge wholesale food market where the virus spread widely earlier this month, re-closed schools and locked down some neighborhoods. Anyone leaving Beijing is required to have a negative virus test result procured within the previous seven days.
About 7.69 million results on people tested in Beijing have been returned, city official Zhang Qiang said Sunday. Beijing has more than 20 million people but authorities have focused so far on high risk groups such as people working in the food and salon industry and those living in areas where cases have been discovered.
Enlarge / A baby with measles. CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is putting clinicians on alert about the growing r...
