US death toll rises by 799, according to CDC

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a further 59,260 cases of coronavirus today.

Meanwhile the death toll rose by 799 to 132,855, as of 4 pm ET on Thursday. The figures do not reflect more recent updates from individual states.

Maxwell seeks bail over coronavirus risk in jail

Ghislaine Maxwell has filed court papers arguing she should be granted bail while awaiting trial over allegations she groomed young girls for convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Her lawyers said the 58-year-old socialite was at “significant risk” of contracting the coronavirus because 55 inmates and staff have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn where she is being held.

They also indicated that Ms Maxwell “vigorously denies” the charges of trafficking and exploitation of minors and perjury.

Texas surpassed 10,000 hospitalised patients for the first time today, having set new daily records for the coronavirus cases over the past week.

A further 95 deaths were also reported.

Republican governor Greg Abbott extended a statewide disaster order and told Lubbock television station KLBK: “Things will get worse.”

He added: “The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”

“Several months ago, I warned of a potential tsunami if we did not take this more seriously,” said Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, the top official in one of the largest counties on the Texas-Mexico border.

“The tsunami is here,” he added.

Execution delayed due to risk of Covid-19

A US federal judge has issued an injunction stopping what would have been the first execution of a federal prisoner in 17 years.

Daniel Lewis Lee was convicted of killing three members of an Arkansas family in 1996 and was due to be executed on Monday.

PM ‘set to make masks compulsory in shops’

Boris Johnson is reportedly set to order the public to wear face coverings in shops, having said earlier today that he was looking at ways to be stricter about their use.

A government source has since indicated it is a “fair assumption” that masks would become mandatory in shops and other indoor settings within a few weeks.

The latest updated statistics on the first 10,000 patients critically ill with Covid-19 have been published by the intensive care national audit and research centre.

Here are just a handful of details from the report – it’s got a lot more detail on ethnicity, deprivation and associated illnesses.

Female 30%

Discharged: 57%

Still receiving treatment: 4%

Died: 39%

 

Here’s one of the few upsides to social distancing in the age of coronavirus, courtesy of the Independent’s policy correspondent Jon Stone.

 

Venezuela minister tests positive for coronavirus

Oil minister and economic vice-president of Venezuela Tareck El Aissami has revealed on Twitter that he has tested positive for Covid-19.

Mr El Aissami,who has been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking allegations, said he was beginning self-isolation.

“A new battle that I will take on, clinging to God and to life,” he wrote.

It comes a day after the leader of the socialist party, Diosdado Cabello, tested positive for the virus.

Venezuela has so far reported 8,010 cases of the novel coronavirus so far, well below neighbouring countries like Brazil.

​Earlier this week Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, 65, and Bolivian interim president Jeanine Anez, 53, also confirmed they had been infected.

Florida records spike in daily coronavirus cases as Disney World prepares to reopen

Florida has reported its second sharpest daily rise in cases as Disney World prepares to reopen in Orlando to the chagrin of some employees.

The state recorded 11,433 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the state health department said, just short of its record high set last weekend.

On Saturday, the Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando will open to a limited number of guests, with measures such as mask wearing and temperature checks in place.

About 19,000 people, including workers, signed a petition asking Disney to delay the reopening.

Meanwhile, the actors’ union that represents 750 Walt Disney World performers has filed a grievance alleging retaliation against its members over the union’s demand that they be tested for the virus.

Florida is one of the few states that does not disclose the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients, but more than four dozen Florida hospitals reported their intensive care units reached capacity earlier this week.

Coronavirus deaths for under 65s more common with non-white people, CDC report says

Coronavirus deaths among Americans aged 65 and younger are more common among non-white people than among white people, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said.

A publication released on Friday found 34.9 per cent of Hispanic patients who died were younger than 65, while 29.5 per cent of non-whites who died were under 65, compared to only 13.2 per cent of white, non-Hispanic descendants.

Researchers analysed 10,647 Covid-19 deaths between 12 February and 24 April from 16 public health departments in 15 states. 

Most of those who died were older than 65 years and had underlying medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The percentages of Hispanic and non-white people under age 65 who died of coronavirus were greater than their share of the US population, the report said.

The researchers noted that more Hispanic and non-white people work in occupations or essential activities that do not allow physical distancing.

WHO expert warns eradication of new coronavirus is unlikely

Dr Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation’s emergencies programme, has said it is unlikely that the new coronavirus will be eliminated completely.

“In the current situation, it is unlikely we can eradicate this virus,” Dr Ryan told an online briefing from Geneva.

However, he said that by extinguishing clusters of infection the world could “potentially avoid the worst of having second peaks and having to move backwards in terms of lockdown”.

Doctors and teachers reject Trump pressure on reopening schools

Groups representing US doctors, teachers and top school officials have pushed back against pressure from Donald Trump to fully reopen schools amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

“Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics,” the American Academy of Pediatrics, two national teachers’ unions and a school superintendents’ group said, following days of threats by Mr Trump to cut off federal education funds.

“We should leave it to health experts to tell us when the time is best to open up school buildings, and listen to educators and administrators to shape how we do it,” AAP, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the School Superintendents Association said in a joint statement.

Their call was echoed by two medical groups – the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association.

The government overstated the total number of people who had been tested for coronavirus by as many as 200,000 at the height of the UK’s first wave of Covid-19, according to analysis by Sky News.

Jobs in locked-down Leicester ‘threatened by lack of government help’

Firms and jobs in locked-down Leicester are being threatened by a lack of government help as the rest of the country opens up for businesses, the Leicester East MP has said.

Labour’s Claudia Webbe wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to provide “desperately needed financial support” for the city, whose residents are “anxious and confused” as the rest of England enjoys a gradual loosening of restrictions.

Ms Webbe also outlined concerns ministers were too slow to give Leicester County Council the data and information “essential to tackling the virus at a local level”.

The city became the first place in the country to have tight restrictions reimposed on June 30, after a spike in Covid-19 infections.

Business and Industry Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said there are “no plans” for any further aid measures, beyond those such as furlough and business grants, put in place at the start of the pandemic.

City Mayor Peter Soulsby has accused health secretary Matt Hancock of breaking promises and called the situation “very bad news”, while Liz Kendall, Labour MP for Leicester West, said the situation was “totally unacceptable”.

Phone scam warning

The Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland is urging the public to be vigilant in light of reports of a telephone/text scam from criminals claiming to be contact tracing and testing staff.

The fraudulent calls and text messages claim that the person has been identified as a close contact of someone who has Covid-19 and ask for money for a testing kit to be sent to them and for bank details.

The HSE said it does not charge the public for Covid-19 related services, including testing, and such texts and calls should be ignored.

Any close contacts of a confirmed positive case of Covid-19 will be contacted by phone call by the contact tracing team or public health staff in the HSE and referred for a test.

The HSE said if the Covid-19 tracker app has identified you as a close contact you will see a red box with the advice on what you should do next on all pages of the app.

It added that people will never be asked for their bank details or to pay for testing by a member of HSE contact tracing staff.

The public have been advised to call HSE Live on 1850 24 1850 or contact Gardai if they are concerned or suspicious about any contact they have received regarding Covid-19 testing.

France coronavirus death toll tops 30,000

France has became the sixth country to report a coronavirus death toll of more than 30,000.

The health ministry today said 25 people had died from coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative total since early March to 30,004.

Friday’s increase compares to an average increase of 15 in the previous seven days. In June, France counted on average 34 new deaths per day, in May 143 and in April 695.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 fell by 115 to 7,062, continuing a weeks-long downtrend, and the number of people in intensive care units fell by 16 to 496, the first time the ICU count fell below 500 since mid-March.

Boris Johnson has been seen wearing a face mask in public, in what is thought to be the first time, while visiting businesses in Uxbridge.

The prime minister posed for selfies in the bright blue face covering as he met people in his constituency today.
 

 

Our policy correspondent,
Jon Stone, has the full story below:

White House official urges mask use where Covid-19 rates are rising

White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah Birx has urged the use of masks among people living in counties and metro areas where more than 5 per cent of coronavirus tests are positive.

“We really believe [in] … the uniform use of masks in all metros and in all areas with rising new infections, particularly counties and metros with over 5 per cent positivity,” Ms Birx said on Friday.

Her comments came despite Donald Trump refusing to wear a mask publicly or ask Americans to do so – although he has said he would wear one if he was in a crowd and could not distance himself.

Ms Birx said there were 13 states where both case rates and the percentage of positive tests were rising.