Coronavirus Live Updates: Read The Latest About The COVID-19 Outbreak
Stay up to date as we cover the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its effects across the world.
Since Chinese officials implemented the first coronavirus lockdown in the city of Wuhan in January, there have been more than 20.2 million cases of COVID-19 across the planet.
More than 741,000 people have died from the disease, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Efforts to curb the outbreak have led to the global disruption of daily life and the economy, as schools and workplaces shuttered in hopes of slowing transmission. After months of precautions and lockdowns, governments have begun to reopen their economies.
HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and its effects.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
Fauci Expresses Doubt About Safety Of Russian Vaccine — 8/12/20, 7 a.m. ET
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that having a vaccine and proving that it’s safe and effective are two different things, casting doubts on Russia’s claim on Tuesday that it has a vaccine ready for use.
In a preview of an interview for National Geographic released Tuesday, Fauci said the U.S. had more than half a dozen vaccines in development, and could start administering them as soon as “next week” if “we wanted to take the chance of hurting a lot of people, or giving them something that doesn’t work. But, that’s not the way it works.”
“So, I hope, but I haven’t heard any evidence to make me feel that’s the case, I hope that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective,” Fauci continued. “I seriously doubt that they’ve done that.”
— Lee Moran
Florida, Georgia Both Surpass Daily Coronavirus Death Toll Records — 8/11/20, 7 p.m. ET
Florida and Georgia both set new records for their daily death tolls due to the coronavirus pandemic, health officials said Tuesday.
Florida, one of the nation’s ongoing epicenters of the COVID-19 crisis, said 276 people had died in a 24-hour period ending Tuesday, higher than the previous death toll record set on July 31. The state has seen more than 542,000 cases and 8,500 deaths.
Georgia, which was one of the first states to reopen under orders from Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, said 137 people had died, surpassing the state’s record that was set just last week. More than 4,200 people have died in Georgia due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cases of COVID-19 are still rising in some states and territories, and health officials have long warned that while other states may have seen surges decrease, the number of deaths attributed to infections lags just behind such peaks.
— Nick Visser
Local Transmission Of Virus Breaks Out Again In New Zealand After 102 Days — 8/11/20, 7:30 a.m. ET
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday that four coronavirus cases have been found in an Auckland household with no history of overseas travel, the first cases in 102 days, the Associated Press reports.
Auckland, the country’s largest city, will go into lockdown until Friday, with people asked to stay at home and bars and many other businesses closed. The rest of the country will be banned from gatherings of more than 100 and people will need to social distance from each other.
“We had all hoped not to find ourselves in this position again. But we had also prepared for it. And as a team, we have also been here before,” Ardern said.
— Liza Hearon
Russia Claims Vaccine Is Ready For Use Despite Lack Of Phase 3 Testing — 8/11/20, 6 a.m. ET
Russia has registered a coronavirus vaccine and declared it safe for use, despite international skepticism about the testing of it, the Associated Press reported.
President Vladimir Putin said one of his two daughters had participated in the experiment and received the vaccine.“I would like to repeat that it has passed all the necessary tests,” he said. “The most important thing is to ensure full safety of using the vaccine and its efficiency.”
Scientists have voiced concern about Russia potentially rushing a vaccine before the end of Phase 3 trials, which typically take months and involve thousands of people.
Russia has recorded over 890,000 cases of coronavirus and reported nearly 15,000 deaths.
— Liza Hearon
Coronavirus Cases Top 20 Million Worldwide — 8/10/2020, 8:35 p.m. ET
There are now more than 20 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, a tally by Johns Hopkins University reported Monday. More than one-quarter of those cases are in the United States. Brazil and India trail the U.S., with 3 million and 2.2 million cases, respectively.
— Lydia O’Connor
California Governor Won’t Say Why State’s Public Health Director Resigned ― 8/10/2020, 4:35 p.m. ET
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) remained tightlipped when asked Monday to explain the sudden resignation of the state’s public health director, Dr. Sonia Angell.
“I try not to have personnel discussions in public,” he said when a reporter asked him if he requested she step down.
Angell resigned Sunday night after news broke that a series of data failures had led to a backlog of around 300,000 coronavirus test results in California.
“Forgive me for being human here,” Newsom said when another reporter pressed him to elaborate. “I’m governor; the buck stops with me,” he added, noting he wanted to maintain respect for Angell, whom he said he considers to be a friend.
He offered slightly more clarity when a third reporter challenged him, saying Californians deserved to know the circumstances of Angell’s departure. Newsom hinted Angell had to take the fall for the data glitch.
“We’re all accountable for our respective roles, for what happened underneath us,” he said.
Newsom also noted that the state had seen a 19% decrease in hospitalizations related to COVID-19 in the last two weeks.
— Lydia O’Connor
More than 97,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, as schools around the country grapple with if or how they can safely reopen this fall.
The report included data from 49 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam. But it didn’t include complete data from Texas, currently a virus hotspot, so the number of confirmed cases involving children could be much higher.
— Marina Fang
California Public Health Director Resigns — 8/10/20, 5:50 a.m. ET
Dr. Sonia Angell, the head of California’s public health department, resigned late Sunday, the Associated Press reports. While she didn’t give a reason, her departure comes days after the state announced a fix to a technical glitch that was causing coronavirus test data to become backlogged.
Some 300,000 records had become backlogged in the system, which is used to make decisions about reopening businesses and schools. Not all of the records were coronavirus cases, though.
— Liza Hearon
Trump Adviser Calls Testing In U.S. ‘A Miracle’ Despite Long Waits ― 8/9/20, 12 p.m. ET
White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien praised the Trump administration’s coronavirus testing apparatus, calling it “a miracle,” despite widespread reports of test results taking days or even weeks to process.
In his first TV interview since recovering from COVID-19, O’Brien was asked how long before the average American is able to access speedy, asymptomatic testing like White House officials or professional athletes can.
“Well, we’re working on testing,” O’Brien told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “I think what’s happening with testing in America is really a miracle. I mean we haven’t ― there’s no country in the world that comes close to what America is doing on testing. But we’re working on getting more testing out there.”
The country’s coronavirus testing systems have been overwhelmed in recent weeks by a surge in demand, creating multiday backlogs. For some workers, the delays are causing them to miss paychecks as they await results so they can return to work.
The U.S. on Sunday surpassed 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, continuing its run as the country with the highest number of known infections. President Donald Trump has blamed increased testing in the U.S. over the past few months for the surge in confirmed cases, but public health officials have attributed the rise in cases to further spread of the virus.
“Well, we’ve had a lot of infections as a country and again this is something we need to keep in mind,” O’Brien told CBS News on Sunday before shifting the focus to China. “We’ve got to remember where it came from.”
― Hayley Miller
The U.S. surpassed 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, continuing its run as the country with the most recorded infections in the world by far, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There have been at least 162,000 coronavirus-related deaths nationwide.
The actual number of infections in the U.S. is likely undercounted since many of those who contract the virus present mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, according to public health experts.
The failure of the U.S. to contain the virus has been met with shock and alarm in Europe, reported The Associated Press.
“We Italians always saw America as a model,” said Massimo Franco, a columnist with Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. “But with this virus we’ve discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent.”
― Hayley Miller
New Zealand has marked 100 days without a domestic transmission of the coronavirus, but leaders have warned against complacency as countries like Vietnam and Australia ― which once had the virus under control ― now battle a resurgence in infections.
The Pacific island nation of roughly 5 million people has recorded more than 1,200 COVID-19 cases and at least 22 deaths related to the virus. New Zealand has attributed its success to stringent border control measures, a strict lockdown and a widespread program of testing and contact tracing.
Vietnam ― which went three months without detecting any domestic transmission ― is now racing to control a new outbreak in Danang, fueling fears in New Zealand that further loosening of measures could spark a similar resurgence.
“We have seen overseas how quickly the virus can re-emerge and spread in places where it was previously under control, and we need to be prepared to quickly stamp out any future cases in New Zealand,” said New Zealand Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
― Hayley Miller
